Edmund Ruffin was a prominent Southern
nationalist, noted agriculturalist, writer and essayist, and Virginia state
senator (1823–1827). After dropping out of college and serving briefly in the
Virginia militia during the War of 1812, Ruffin began a long career farming
along the James River and
studying the soil. He published the results of his experiments and founded a
journal, the Farmers' Register, in 1833. During these
years, Ruffin's politics also became radicalized, first around banking issues,
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