had elected to the U.S. Senate). He had a conservative, states' rights bent and soon introduced a resolution denying that Congress had the constitutional authority to authorize the Bank of the United States. Archer won reelection in 1820, 1824, 1826, 1828, 1830 and 1832, thus served from 1820 to 1835. In Congress, Archer rose to chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs from 1829 to 1835, before being defeated for reelection in 1834 by Democrat John Winston Jones. In 1824 Archer supported the unsuccessful Presidential candidacy of Virginia-born Democratic Republican William H. Crawford. In the next Presidential election, Archer supported Andrew Jackson, but broke with the Jacksonian Democrats after Jackson high-handedly removed government deposits from the Bank of the United States. Archer then joined the Whig Party, although he did not agree with its leader Henry Clay's support of internal improvement. Whigs gained power in the Virginia General Assembly by 1840, and on the second ballot Archer was elected to the United States Senate over the incumbent, William H. Roane. Archer served one full term, from 1841 to 1847. There, he became chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations from 1841 to 1845 and of the Committee on Naval Affairs from 1841 to 1843. Issues of territorial expansion and slavery became important during his tenure. Archer supported President Polk's effort to end British claims to the Oregon Territory, but not the annexation of Texas (fearing it would lead to war with Mexico, as happened). Archer also became a key member of the committee who drafted the Missouri Compromise. However, he did not have enough support in the Virginia General Assembly to win reelection. Legislators elected Robert M. T. Hunter in 1846, over both Archer and then-Virginia governor and future Confederate general Extra Billy Smith. Archer resumed his legal practice, as well as managed his plantations for the remaining near decade of his life. He also served as a trustee of Hampden-Sydney College from 1820 through 1839. Death and legacy Archer died at "The Lodge" in Amelia County on March 28, 1855. He was interred in the family cemetery there, and left his large estate, including 2000 acres of land and 2500 books, as well as enslaved people and other property, to his three sisters, who decided to split it into four parts and thus provide for Archer's illegitimate son, William Segar Archer Work. While his sister Elizabeth Archer died the