John Breckinridge (U.S. Attorney General)

Although he had not sought the office and was not old enough to serve, Botetourt County voters twice elected Breckinridge to represent them part-time as one of the western county's representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates in late 1780.[13] Though without documentary support, some claim fellow delegates twice refused Breckinridge his seat because of his age, but his constituents reelected him each time, and he was seated the third time.[14] His legislative colleagues included Patrick Henry, Benjamin Harrison, John Tyler, John Taylor of Caroline, George Nicholas, Daniel Boone, and Benjamin Logan.[15][16]

Prevented by British soldiers from meeting at Williamsburg, the House convened May 7, 1781, in Richmond, but failed to achieve a quorum.[14] Because of British General Charles Cornwallis' May 10 advance on that city, the legislators adjourned to Charlottesville on May 24.[14] Breckinridge arrived in Charlottesville on May 28; a quorum was present to conduct legislative business through June 3.[14] The next morning, Jack Jouett rode into the city, warning the legislators that 250 light cavalrymen under Banastre Tarleton were approaching.[14] Legislators quickly adjourned to Staunton and fled for their horses.[14] Days later, they completed the session's business there.[16] Breckinridge stayed at his mother's house between sessions, rejoining the legislature in Richmond in November 1781.[16] Much of the session consisted of adopting resolutions of thanks for individuals who had made that city safe by defeating Cornwallis at Yorktown.[17]

Financial difficulties prevented Breckinridge's return to college.[18] He did not seek reelection in 1782; instead, he spent a year earning money by surveying, and was reelected to the House of Delegates in 1783, joining his legislative colleagues in May.[16] He also joined the Constitutional Society of Virginia; fellow society members included future U.S. presidents James Madison and James Monroe.[19] The House adjourned June 28, 1783, and Breckinridge returned to William and Mary, studying through the end of the year, excepting the legislative session in November and December.[20] With the war over, he urged that no economic or political penalties be imposed on former Loyalists.[20] In contrast to his later political views, he desired a stronger central government than provided for in the Articles of Confederation; he argued that the national government could not survive unless it could tax its citizens, a power it did not have under the Articles.[20][21]

Financial problems caused Breckinridge to leave William and Mary after the spring semester in 1784.[22] Because of his studies earlier in the year, he had no time to campaign for reelection to the House of Delegates, so he asked his brother Joseph and his cousin John Preston to campaign on his behalf.[23] Initially, his prospects seemed favorable, but he was beaten by future Virginia Congressman George Hancock.[23] After the defeat, voters from Montgomery County – where Breckinridge had previously been a surveyor – chose him to represent them in the House.[23][24] As a Virginia legislator, Breckinridge served on the prestigious committees on Propositions and Grievances, Courts of Justice, Religion, and Investigation of the Land Offices.[23] His fellow committee members included Henry Tazewell, Carter Henry Harrison, Edward Carrington, Spencer Roane, John Marshall, Richard Bland Lee, and Wilson Cary Nicholas.[25] Inspired by his legislative service, he spent the summer between legislative sessions studying to become a lawyer.[4][26] The legislative session focused on domestic issues like whether Virginia should establish a tax to benefit religion in the state.[27] Breckinridge was not associated with any denomination, and his writings indicate that he was opposed to such a tax.[28] Instead, he and James Madison secured approval of a religious liberty bill first proposed by Thomas Jefferson over five years earlier.[28] The legislature rose on January 7, 1785, and Breckinridge was admitted to the bar later that year, beginning practice in Charlottesville.[4][29]

Mary Hopkins ("Polly") Cabell Breckinridge

On June 28, 1785, Breckinridge married Mary Hopkins ("Polly") Cabell, daughter of Joseph Cabell, a member of the Cabell political family.[19] Polly's dowry included a 400-acre (1.6-km²) plantation in Albemarle County dubbed "The Glebe".[19] Nine children were born to the John and Polly Breckinridge – Letitia Preston (b. 1786), Joseph "Cabell" (b. 1787), Mary Hopkins (b. 1790), Robert (b. 1793), Mary Ann (b. 1795), John (b. 1797), Robert Jefferson (b. 1800), William Lewis (b. 1803), and James Monroe (b. 1806).[30]

Polly, Cabell, and Letitia all fell ill but survived a smallpox epidemic in 1793; however, Mary Hopkins and their first son named Robert died.[31] Cabell Breckinridge would later follow a similar career as a planter, lawyer and politician, and become Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives and later Kentucky's Secretary of State.[32] Other sons became ministers and planters; the family's loyalties would be split during the American Civil War long after this man's death. Cabell Beckinridge's son John C. Breckinridge continued the family legal, planter and political traditions and become U.S. Vice President John C. Breckinridge, and a presidential candidate, only to side with the Confederacy during the American Civil War.[33] Meanwhile his brother John Breckinridge also attended the same university, receiving a degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, before serving as chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives, and president of Oglethorpe College (now Oglethorpe University) in Georgia.[32] Robert Jefferson Breckinridge became superintendent of public instruction under Governor William Owsley and became known as the father of Kentucky's public education system.[33] William Lewis Breckinridge became a prominent Presbyterian minister, serving as moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly in 1859 and later as president of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and Oakland College in Yale, Mississippi.[32] In 1804, this Breckinridge's daughter Letitia married Alfred W. Grayson, son of Virginia Senator William Grayson.[34] Alfred Grayson died in 1808, and in 1816, the widowed Letitia married Peter Buell Porter, who would later serve as Secretary of War under President John Quincy Adams.[32]

Meanwhile, farming at the Glebe proved barely enough for Breckinridge's growing family.[35] Breckinridge's legal career provided enough money for some comforts but required long hours and difficult work.[36] Patrick Henry regularly represented clients opposite Breckinridge, and John Marshall both referred clients to him and asked him to represent his own clients in his absence.[36] Though still interested in politics, Breckinridge refused to campaign for the people's support.[37] He believed changes were needed to the Articles of Confederation and agreed with much of the proposed U.S. constitution, but he did not support equal representation of the states in the Senate nor the federal judiciary.[38] Heeding the advice of his brother James and his friend, Archibald Stuart, he did not seek election as a delegate to Virginia's ratification convention.[38]

In August, Breckinridge traveled to Virginia's Sweet Springs to improve his health.[70] He visited family and friends while there, but the exact dates and locations he visited are not known.[71] At some point, he obtained a draft of resolutions written by Vice President Thomas Jefferson denouncing the recently-enacted Alien and Sedition Acts.[71] Jefferson wished to keep his authorship secret, and Breckinridge accepted credit for them during his life.[33] In 1814, John Taylor revealed Jefferson's authorship; Breckinridge's grandson, John C. Breckinridge, wrote Jefferson for confirmation of Taylor's claims.[71] Cautioning that the passage of time and his failing memory might cause him to inaccurately recount the details, Jefferson responded that he, Breckinridge, Wilson Nicholas, and possibly James Madison met at Monticello, at a date Jefferson could not recall, to discuss the need for resolutions denouncing the Alien and Sedition Acts.[72] They decided that Jefferson would pen the resolutions and that Breckinridge would introduce them in the Kentucky legislature upon his return to that state.[71]

Thomas Jefferson composed the original Kentucky Resolutions.

Letters between Nicholas and Jefferson indicate a different series of events.[73] In a letter dated October 4, 1798, Nicholas informed Jefferson that he had given "a copy of the resolutions you sent me" to Breckinridge, who would introduce them in Kentucky.[73] The letter also indicated that this was a deviation from the original plan to deliver the draft to a legislator in North Carolina for introduction in the legislature there.[74] Nicholas felt that recipient was too closely associated with Jefferson, risking his being discovered as the resolutions' author.[74] According to Nicholas, Breckinridge wanted to discuss the draft with Jefferson, but Nicholas advised against the meeting, fearing it could implicate Jefferson.[74] A subsequent letter from Jefferson expressed his approval of Nicholas' actions.[74] Lowell Harrison notes that after Breckinridge left Virginia, his contacts with Jefferson were few until his election to the Senate in 1801.[73] Harrison considered it unlikely that Jefferson was mistaken about a meeting between the two to discuss a matter as important as the resolutions, positing that Jefferson may have met separately with Breckinridge and Nicholas to discuss the resolutions, and that the meeting with Breckinridge was kept secret from Nicholas.[75] Because of the uncertainty surrounding Breckinridge's activities in Virginia in 1798, the extent of his influence on Jefferson's original draft of the resolutions is unknown.[75]

In Garrard's November 5, 1798, State of the Commonwealth address, he encouraged the General Assembly to declare its views on the Alien and Sedition Acts.[76] Breckinridge was chosen as chairman of a three-person committee to carry out the governor's charge.[76] The resolutions that the committee brought to the floor on November 10 became known as the Kentucky Resolutions.[77] The first seven were exactly as Jefferson had written them, but Breckinridge modified the last two, eliminating Jefferson's suggestion of nullifying the unpopular acts.[78] During the debate on the House floor, Breckinridge endorsed nullification if Congress would not repeal the acts after a majority of states declared their opposition to them.[78] Federalist William Murray led opposition to the resolutions in the House but was the only dissenting vote on five of the nine; John Pope led similarly unsuccessful Federalist opposition in the Senate.[78] Upon concurrence of both houses, Garrard signed the resolutions.[78]

Federalist state legislatures, primarily those north of the Potomac River, sent the Kentucky General Assembly negative responses to the resolutions.[78] Nicholas convinced Jefferson that Kentucky should adopt a second set of resolutions affirming the first, lest the lack of a reply be seen acquiescence.[79] Jefferson refused to compose these resolutions, maintaining that there were sufficiently talented individuals in Kentucky to compose them and fearing still that he would be discovered as the author of the first set.[79] Breckinridge, chosen Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives at the outset of the 1799 session, took on the task, drafting resolutions reasserting the original principles and endorsing nullification.[78][note 3] The resolutions unanimously passed the House.[79] The Federalist minority in the Senate opposed them, especially the endorsement of nullification, but that chamber also adopted the resolutions as written.[79] Breckinridge's presumed authorship of the original resolutions and his subsequent defense of them caused his popularity to soar in Kentucky.[78]

Some Kentucky citizens were already displeased with parts of the state's constitution, and the disputed gubernatorial election of 1796 had added to the enthusiasm of those calling for a constitutional convention to revise it.[65] Breckinridge opposed such a call, fearing changes would imperil his wealth and power.[80] John Breckinridge asked, "Where is the difference whether I am robbed of my horse by a highway-man, or of my slave by a set of people called a Convention? ... If they can by one experiment emancipate our slaves; the same principle pursued, will enable them at a second experiment to extinguish our land titles; both are held by rights equally sound."[81] The desire for a convention was so strong, even in aristocratic Fayette County, that Breckinridge's position nearly cost him his seat in the legislature.[82] Seeking election to a full term in May 1798, he was the seventh-highest vote-getter, securing the last of Fayette County's seats in the legislature by only eight votes.[83] Despite the efforts of conservatives like Breckinridge and George Nicholas, in late 1798, the General Assembly called a convention for July 22, 1799.[80] Delegates to the convention were to be elected in May 1799, and the conservatives immediately began organizing slates of candidates that would represent their interests.[80] Popular because of his role in securing adoption of the Kentucky Resolutions, Breckinridge was among the six conservative candidates promoted in Fayette County, all of whom were elected.[80][84] Out of the fifty-eight men who arrived in Frankfort in late July as convention delegates, fifty-seven owned slaves and fifty held substantial property.[85] Between the election and the convention, Breckinridge and Judge Caleb Wallace worked with Nicholas (who did not seek election as a delegate) to draft resolutions that Breckinridge would introduce at the convention in an attempt to steer the proceedings toward conservative positions.[86]

The largest group of delegates at the convention – about 18 in number – were aristocrats who advocated protection of their wealth and status, including instituting voice voting in the legislature (which left legislators vulnerable to intimidation), safeguarding legal slavery, and limiting the power of the electorate.[33][86] A smaller group led by Green Clay and Robert Johnson consisted mostly of planters who opposed most limits on the power of the legislature, which they believed was superior to the executive and judicial branches.[86] A third group, led by future governor John Adair, agreed with the notion of legislative supremacy, but opposed limits on other branches of the government.[86] The smallest group was the most populist and was led by John Bailey.[86] The conservative faction strengthened the previous constitution's slavery protections by denying suffrage to free blacks and mulattoes.[86] Legislative apportionment based on population, the addition of a lieutenant governor, and voice voting of the legislature – all issues advocated by Breckinridge – were also adopted.[87] He was unable to preserve the electoral college that elected the governor and state senators, but the direct election of these officers was balanced by a provision that county sheriffs and judges be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.[88][89] Attempts to make judicial decisions subject to legislative approval were defeated after Breckinridge defended the extant judicial system.[87] He was also the architect of the constitution's provisions for amendment, which made changing the document difficult, but not entirely impossible.[87] Because of his leading role in the convention, Breckinridge was regarded as the father of the resultant constitution, which was ratified in 1799, and emerged from the convention as the leader of his party.[33] He was reelected as Speaker of the House in 1800.[29]

Breckinridge advocated internal improvements and formed a coalition of legislators from South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky to support a system of roads connecting the Southern coastal states with the western frontier, but the routes they proposed proved impossible to construct with the technology available at the time.[57] Spanish revocation of Kentucky's right of deposit at New Orleans – in violation of Pinckney's Treaty – further frustrated and angered frontier residents.[97] Although many desired war with Spain, Jefferson believed a diplomatic resolution was possible and urged restraint.[98] Federalists, seeking to divide the Democratic-Republicans and curry favor with the West, abandoned their usual advocacy of peace.[98] Pennsylvania Federalist James Ross introduced a measure allocating $5 million and raising 50,000 militiamen to seize the Louisiana Territory from Spain.[98] Cognizant of Jefferson's desire for more time, Breckinridge offered a substitute resolution on February 23, 1803, allocating 80,000 troops and unlimited funds for the potential invasion of New Orleans, but he left their use at the discretion of the president.[98] Breckinridge's resolution was adopted after a heated debate.[98]

The Louisiana Purchase, superimposed on a map of the modern United States

Before an invasion became necessary, U.S. ambassadors learned that Spain had ceded Louisiana to France via the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso, and France offered to sell the territory to the U.S.[97] Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe, U.S. ministers to France, agreed to the purchase, even though they had not been given the authority to do so.[97] Jefferson was pleased with the purchase, but feared he had no constitutional authority to effect it.[97] In an August 12, 1803, letter to Breckinridge, Jefferson discussed his constitutional misgivings about the Louisiana Purchase and proposed that Breckinridge introduce a simple constitutional amendment in the Senate: "Louisiana, as ceded by France to the U.S., is made a part of the U.S."[99] Breckinridge ignored the proposed amendment and immediately formed a coalition of western senators to approve the purchase.[99]

After the purchase was approved, Jefferson drafted a system of governing the newly acquired territory.[100] Fearing that the Federalists would oppose any system he had devised, he delivered his draft to Breckinridge and asked him to introduce it in the Senate as his own.[101] To maintain the ruse, Breckinridge moved that a committee be formed to recommend a plan for governing Louisiana Territory.[102] Working through the committee, he brought Jefferson's plan to the Senate floor with its essentials intact.[102] Because the plan provided for the taxation of Louisiana residents without giving them representation in Congress, Federalists and some Democratic-Republicans opposed it.[102] Nevertheless, it passed by a vote of 26–6.[103]

By July 1803, citizens of the western states, desiring more representation in the federal government and intent on breaking the pattern of nominating a Virginians and New Yorkers for most important federal offices, were advocating Breckinridge's nomination as vice president in the 1804 presidential election.[104][105] Thomas Jefferson was expected to be reelected, but most Democratic-Republicans had grown disenchanted with Vice President Aaron Burr; he would not be Jefferson's running mate.[104] Breckinridge's service as Senate floor leader made him a natural choice.[104]

George Clinton was nominated for vice president in 1804 instead of Breckinridge.

The Democratic-Republican congressional caucus convened February 25, 1804.[106] Contrary to previous conventions, the proceedings were open and formal.[106] Afraid that taking vice presidential nominations from the floor would precipitate divisive oratory, chairman Stephen Bradley called for open balloting for the nomination.[106] New York's George Clinton received a majority with 67 votes; Breckinridge garnered 20 votes, mostly from western delegates, and the remaining votes were scattered among 4 other candidates.[105] Historian James C. Klotter concluded that the solons felt a ticket composed of Jefferson, a Virginian, and Breckinridge, a former Virginian, made little political sense.[105] Breckinridge acceded to the choice; some reports hold that he asked his colleagues not to vote for him at all.[106] Before the caucus adjourned, a thirteen-man committee was formed to promote the election of the Democratic-Republican ticket; Breckinridge represented Kentucky on the committee.[106]

Westerners expressed dissent over Clinton's nomination instead of their preferred candidate.[107] The June 29, 1804, edition of Philadelphia's Independent Gazetteer carried an editorial, signed "True American", that denounced the Virginia–New York coalition, attacked Clinton as too old, and called for electors to vote for Breckinridge for vice president.[107] Potential electors in western states pledged to carry out "True American"'s proposal.[108] Allan B. Magruder attempted to warn Breckinridge in advance of the editorial's publication, but his letter – dated June 23, 1804 – did not reach Breckinridge until July 1.[109] On July 5, Breckinridge published a response in the Kentucky Palladium denouncing the proposal and encouraging electors to vote for the Democratic-Republican slate as nominated.[108] He requested that all newspapers that had printed the "True American" editorial also print his response.[108]

In the same edition that carried Breckinridge's response, Daniel Bradford, editor of the Kentucky Gazette, penned an editorial revealing Breckinridge's close friend, William Stevenson, as the author of the "True American" article and noting that Breckinridge had waited nearly a week to publish a response, and claiming the delay was intended to allow him to gauge public sentiment before denouncing Stevenson's proposal.[110] Bradford had been at odds with Breckinridge since the 1799 constitutional convention, and his dislike intensified when Breckinridge refused to use his influence to gain appointments for Bradford's relatives – John Bradford and James Bradford – as Public Printer of the United States and Secretary of Louisiana Territory, respectively.[111] Bradford's claims were quickly endorsed by anonymous editorial writers in newspapers across the west.[112]

Stevenson swore under oath that Breckinridge had no part in composing the "True American" article.[112] Breckinridge publicly stated that Bradford's brother, Charles, had shown him a draft of the "True American" editorial prior to its publication and asked his opinion of it; Breckinridge advised him not to publish it, and Bradford temporarily obliged.[112] An illness, Breckinridge said, had confined him to his home at the time of the editorial's publication, and he was not aware that the Independent Gazetteer had printed it until he attended the court at Frankfort days later; he immediately returned home and composed his rebuttal.[112] In light of this evidence, few still maintained the credibility of the reports in the Kentucky Gazette by the time of the election.[113] Every Kentucky elector voted for both Jefferson and Clinton.[111]

After the Louisiana Purchase, Breckinridge focused on securing a vote to present the Twelfth Amendment to the states for ratification.[114] He did not agree with all the changes effected by the amendment, the primary purpose of which was to direct presidential electors to vote separately for president and vice president; he supported abolishing the electoral college, electing both officials by popular vote.[115] Democratic-Republicans wanted the amendment adopted before the 1804 election to avoid Jefferson's being saddled with a hostile vice president again, and Breckinridge announced his support for the amendment in late October.[114] With several members of his party absent, he would not be able to secure the two-thirds majority needed to send the amendment to the states for ratification.[114] Recognizing this fact, Federalists pushed for an immediate vote, putting Breckinridge in the position of trying to delay a vote on a measure both he and his constituents supported.[114] Debate began on November 23 after several Democratic-Republicans had returned.[114] South Carolina Federalist Pierce Butler contended that the amendment would allow large states to pick the president; James Jackson, a Democratic-Republican from Georgia, countered by taunting, "Never will there be a Federal President or Vice-President again elected, to the end of time."[114] Federalists moved adjournment at 6:00 p.m. on December 2, but Breckinridge, determined to hold a vote that night, blocked the move and took the floor for the first time in days.[116] By 10:00 p.m., senators clamored for a vote, and the measure was approved 22–10.[116] State legislatures quickly acted on the amendment, and by September 23, 1804, it was declared in force for the upcoming election.[116]

Other business in the session included creating a special fund that would allow Jefferson to recover the USS Philadelphia, which had been captured off the coast of northern Africa, and the repeal of the Bankruptcy Act of 1800; Breckinridge supported the passage of both measures.[117] He feared that passage of an act making permanent the pay raises for executive administrative personnel first enacted in 1799 would hurt his party in the upcoming elections, especially in the House, but the act passed and there was no significant backlash at the polls.[118] Robert Wright's measure adjourning Congress to Baltimore, Maryland, in protest of legislators' poor accommodations in Washington, D.C., was defeated by a vote of 9–19, but Breckinridge considered the issue of moving the U.S. capital worthy of further study.[119] Breckinridge supported the successful impeachment of federal judge John Pickering and also served on the Senate committee that prepared the rules governing the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase.[120] The latter impeachment was widely seen as politically motivated, and some Democratic-Republicans joined the Federalist minority in voting for acquittal.[121] Majorities were obtained on only three of the eight articles of impeachment, and each of those fell at least three votes short of the required two-thirds majority.[121] Breckinridge and three other Democratic-Republicans voted to convict on every article except the fifth, on which every senator sided with Chase.[121]

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