Thomas Speed

Thomas Speed (born October 25, 1768 in Charlotte County , Colony of Virginia , †  February 20, 1842 in Bardstown , Kentucky ) was an American politician . Between 1817 and 1819 he represented the state of Kentucky in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Thomas Speed ​​was tutored by his father. In 1782 he came to what would later become the state of Kentucky, where he worked as a clerk at a court. From 1790 he was active in Danville and Bardstown in trade. He then worked as a farmer in Nelson County for several years before becoming a clerk at the county court. During the British-American War of 1812 , Speed ​​was a major in the Kentucky State Militia. Politically, he became a member of the Democratic Republican Party . In the congressional election of 1816 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the tenth constituency of Kentucky , where he succeeded Benjamin Hardin on March 4, 1817 . Since he lost to Hardin in the elections of 1818, Speed ​​could only serve one term in Congress until March 3, 1819 .

After serving in the US House of Representatives, Speed ​​returned to his farm. At the same time he began writing political and historical articles and publishing them in the National Intelligencer newspaper in Washington. Between 1821 and 1822 he was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives . In 1835 he was a founding member of the Whig Party . As their candidate, he was re-elected to the state parliament in 1840. Thomas Speed ​​died on February 20, 1842 on his farm near Bardstown. His nephew James Speed (1812-1887) was the United States Attorney General between 1864 and 1866 .

Web links

• Thomas Speed in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Thomas speed in the database of Find a Grave (English)