Felix Grundy

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Felix Grundy

Felix Grundy (born September 11, 1777 in Berkeley County , Virginia , † December 19, 1840 in Nashville , Tennessee ) was an American lawyer and politician . He was a member of the cabinet of US President Martin Van Buren as attorney general and US Senator for the state of Tennessee.

Studies and professional career

After school, he completed a law degree , which he completed in 1797 with the admission to the bar in Kentucky . He then settled in Bardstown as a lawyer. In 1805 he was appointed to the State Supreme Court of Errors and Appeals of Kentucky, of which he was president for some time in 1807. In 1807 he founded a law firm in Nashville. The future President James K. Polk studied law in his office . At the same time, Grundy became his political mentor. After Grundy's death, Polk bought his house and lived there after his presidency.

Political career

MPs in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Washington

Grundy began his political career as early as 1799 when he was elected a member of the Kentucky Constituent Assembly. A year later he became a member of the House of Representatives of the state, of which he was a member until 1805. After settling in Tennessee, he became a member of the Democratic Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives on March 4, 1811 , where he remained until his resignation in 1814. From 1819 to 1825 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Tennessee . During this time in 1820 he was also a commissioner for determining the state border between Kentucky and Tennessee.

Senator and Minister of Justice under President Van Buren

As a member of the Jacksonians , supporter of Andrew Jackson , he was elected US Senator on October 19, 1829, to initially complete the term of office of John Henry Eaton , who was Secretary of War in the Jackson cabinet , which lasted until March 4, 1833 . Grundy was re-elected in 1832 and served in Congress until July 4, 1838. During this time he was from 1829 to 1836 Chairman of the Postal Committee and then until July 4, 1838 of the Judiciary Committee .

On July 4, 1838, US President Martin Van Buren appointed him as Attorney General in his cabinet . From this office he resigned in December 1839 after he had been re-elected as a US Senator as a member of the Democratic Party on November 19, 1839, this time to complete the term of office of the resigned Ephraim Hubbard Foster . When it came to a controversial discussion about the legal admissibility of the election of an incumbent attorney general as senator, he finally resigned on December 14th as both minister and senator. On the same day he was re-elected senator and remained in that office until his death the following year. During this time he was chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims . The Grundy Counties in Illinois , Iowa , Missouri and Tennessee were named in his honor.

literature

  • Frances Howard Ewing: The Senatorial Career of the Hon. Felix Grundy . In: Tennessee Historical Magazine , 2 (October 1931): 3-27, 2 (January 1932): 111-35, 2 (April 1932): 220-24, 2 (July 1932): 270-91
  • Joseph Parks: Felix Grundy: Champion of Democracy . Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge 1940.
  • Grundy, Felix . In: James Grant Wilson, John Fiske (Eds.): Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography . tape 3 : Grinnell - Lockwood . D. Appleton and Company, New York 1887, p. 7 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).

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personal data
SURNAME Grundy, Felix
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 11, 1777
PLACE OF BIRTH Berkeley County , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH December 19, 1840
Place of death Nashville , Tennessee