Robert L. Caruthers

Robert L. Caruthers
Portrait of Caruthers, c. 1849, wearing a Masonic stole
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 7th district
In office March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843
Preceded by	John Bell
Succeeded by	David W. Dickinson
Personal details
Born	(1800-07-31)July 31, 1800 Carthage, Tennessee
Died	October 2, 1882(1882-10-02) (aged 82) Lebanon, Tennessee
Resting place	Cedar Grove Cemetery Lebanon, Tennessee
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Sally Sanders (1827–1870, her death)
Profession	Attorney, judge, professor
Religion	Presbyterian

Robert Looney Caruthers (July 31, 1800 – October 2, 1882) was an American judge, politician, and professor. He helped establish Cumberland University in 1842, serving as the first president of its Board of Trustees, and was a cofounder of the Cumberland School of Law, one of the oldest law schools in the South. He served as a Tennessee state attorney general in the late 1820s and early 1830s, and was a justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court in the 1850s and early 1860s. He also served one term in the United States House of Representatives (1841–1843). In 1863, he was elected Governor of Tennessee by the state's Confederates, but never took office.

Caruthers was born near Carthage, Tennessee, the youngest of seven children of Samuel and Elizabeth Looney Caruthers. His father had represented Sullivan County at the constitutional convention of the State of Franklin in the 1780s. After his death, Robert went to live with an uncle in Columbia, Tennessee, where he attended Woodward Academy. He later attended Washington College near Jonesborough and Greeneville College in Greeneville, and studied law under Judge Samuel Powell in Greeneville.

Caruthers returned to Carthage in 1823 to practice law. He served as the clerk for the Tennessee House of Representatives for the 1823–1824 term, and worked as editor of the Tennessee Republican newsletter. In 1826, he moved to Lebanon, Tennessee, and married Sally Sanders, a niece of Andrew Jackson's wife, Rachel Donelson Jackson. That same year, he was appointed attorney general for the Sixth Judicial District (based in Lebanon) by Governor Sam Houston. He served in this position until 1832. In 1834, he was elected brigadier general in the Tennessee militia. In 1836, he and Alfred O. P. Nicholson published A Compilation of the Statutes of Tennessee, which remained the state's standard compilation of statutes for over two decades.