Felix Grundy

Felix Grundy served as U.S. attorney general from 1838 to 1839. A prominent criminal attorney, Grundy also served as a judge, state legislator, and U.S. senator. His brief service as attorney general took place during the administration of President Martin Van Buren.

Grundy was born September 11, 1777, in Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia). His family moved to Kentucky in 1780. Although he had little early formal education, he studied law and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1797. An able advocate, he soon developed a reputation as an outstanding criminal lawyer.

In 1799 he was elected a delegate to the Kentucky state constitutional convention, where he played a prominent role. In 1800 he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives. He served in the house until 1806, when he was appointed associate justice of the state supreme court of errors and appeals. He was made chief justice in 1807, but left the court that same year and moved to Nashville.

Grundy established a law practice in Nashville before politics again became paramount. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1811 and was reelected in 1813. During these years in Congress, Grundy was a strong advocate of territorial expansion, seeking to add Florida and Canada to the United States. He was also a supporter of the War of 1812, against Great Britain.

After resigning from Congress in 1815, Grundy returned to Nashville and his law practice. James Polk, future president of the United States, apprenticed under Grundy during this period. In 1819 Grundy was elected to the Tennessee legislature, and in 1820 he acted as a commissioner to settle the boundary line between Kentucky and Tennessee.

During the 1820s Grundy concentrated on his law practice, while working to strengthen the Democratic party and to promote the candidacy of Tennessean Andrew Jackson for president. Though Jackson lost his first bid in 1824, he easily won in 1828 and 1832. In 1829 Grundy was appointed to a vacancy in the U.S. Senate, and in 1833 he was reelected.

Grundy remained in the Senate until 1838, when President Van Buren appointed him to serve as attorney general. Van Buren, who had been Jackson's vice president, had little success as president. An economic depression, called the Panic of 1837, crippled the U.S. economy for most of his four-year term. Grundy, sensing the fading political fortunes of Van Buren, resigned his position in December 1839 and returned to his seat in the Senate.

Grundy died in Nashville December 19, 1840.

Felix Grundy
13th United States Attorney General
In office July 5, 1838 – January 10, 1840
President	Martin Van Buren
Preceded by	Benjamin F. Butler
Succeeded by	Henry D. Gilpin
United States Senator from Tennessee
In office October 19, 1829 – July 4, 1838
Preceded by	John Eaton
Succeeded by	Ephraim H. Foster
In office December 14, 1839 – December 19, 1840
Preceded by	Ephraim H. Foster
Succeeded by	Alfred O. P. Nicholson
Born	September 11, 1777 Berkley County, Virginia
Died	December 19, 1840 (aged 63) Nashville, Tennessee
Political party	Democratic-Republican Democratic
Signature

Felix Grundy (September 11, 1777 – December 19, 1840) was a U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senator from Tennessee who also served as the 13th Attorney General of the United States.

Biography

Born in Berkeley County, Virginia (now Berkeley County, West Virginia), he moved to Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and then Kentucky with his parents. He was educated at home and at the Bardstown Academy in Kentucky. He then studied law and was admitted to the Kentucky bar and commenced practice in Bardstown in 1797.

He was a member of the Kentucky constitutional convention in 1799, served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1800 to 1805 and was appointed associate justiceship in the State Supreme Court of Errors and Appeals, was Chief Justice in 1807, resigned the same year and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he again took up the practice of law.

He was elected as a Republican to the 12th and 13th Congresses and served from March 4, 1811, until his resignation in 1814.

He then became a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1819 to 1825, and in 1820 was commissioner to settle the boundary line (state line) between Tennessee and Kentucky. He was elected as a Jacksonian in 1829 to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy in the term ending March 4, 1833, caused by the resignation of John H. Eaton to join the Cabinet of President Andrew Jackson; reelected in 1832 and served from October 19, 1829, to July 4, 1838, when he resigned to accept a Cabinet position. During this time he served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads (21st through 24th Congresses), U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (24th and 25th Congresses).

He entered the Cabinet when he was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Martin Van Buren in July 1838. He resigned the post in December 1839, having been elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate on November 19, 1839, to fill the vacancy in the term commencing March 4, 1839, caused by the resignation of Ephraim Foster; the question of his eligibility to election as Senator while holding the office of Attorney General of the United States having been raised, he resigned from the Senate on December 14, 1839, and was reelected the same day, serving from December 14, 1839, until his death in Nashville, almost a year to the day later. During this stint in the upper house of the U.S. Congress he served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Revolutionary Claims in the 26th Congress.

He is interred in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee. There are four Grundy Counties, including the one in Tennessee, named in his honor.

Grundy was a mentor to future President James K. Polk. Polk purchased Grundy's home called "Grundy Place" and changed the name to "Polk Place". He lived and died there after his presidency. It was demolished in 1901.

External links

• Felix Grundy at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Allen, William B. (1872). A History of Kentucky: Embracing Gleanings, Reminiscences, Antiquities, Natural Curiosities, Statistics, and Biographical Sketches of Pioneers, Soldiers, Jurists, Lawyers, Statesmen, Divines, Mechanics, Farmers, Merchants, and Other Leading Men, of All Occupations and Pursuits. Bradley & Gilbert. pp. 351–352. http://books.google.com/books?id=s_wTAAAAYAAJ. Retrieved 2008-11-10. 

United States Senate
Preceded by John Eaton	United States Senator (Class 1) from Tennessee 1829 – 1838 Served alongside: Hugh L. White	Succeeded by Ephraim H. Foster
Preceded by Ephraim H. Foster	United States Senator (Class 1) from Tennessee 1839 – 1840 Served alongside: Hugh L. White, Alexander O. Anderson	Succeeded by Alfred O. P. Nicholson
Political offices
Preceded by John M. Clayton	Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee 1836 – 1838	Succeeded by Garret D. Wall
Legal offices
Preceded by Benjamin F. Butler	United States Attorney General 1838 – 1840	Succeeded by Henry D. Gilpin

v • d • e United States Attorneys General Randolph • Bradford • Lee • Lincoln • Breckinridge • Rodney • Pinkney • Rush • Wirt • Berrien • Taney • Butler • Grundy • Gilpin • Crittenden • Legaré • Nelson • Mason • Clifford • Toucey • Johnson • Crittenden • Cushing • Black • Stanton • Bates • Speed • Stanberry • Evarts • Hoar • Akerman • Williams • Pierrepont • Taft • Devens • MacVeagh • Brewster • Garland • Miller • Olney • Harmon • McKenna • Griggs • Knox • Moody • Bonaparte • Wickersham • McReynolds • Gregory • Palmer • Daugherty • Stone • Sargent • W D Mitchell • Cummings • Murphy • Jackson • Biddle • T C Clark • McGrath • McGranery • Brownell • Rogers • Kennedy • Katzenbach • W R Clark • J N Mitchell • Kleindienst • Richardson • Saxbe • Levi • Bell • Civiletti • Smith • Meese • Thornburgh • Barr • Reno • Ashcroft • Gonzales • Mukasey • Holder

v • d • e United States Senators from Tennessee Class 1 Cocke · A. Jackson · Smith · J. Anderson · Campbell · Eaton · Grundy · Foster · Grundy · Nicholson · Foster · Turney · Jones · Johnson · Patterson · Brownlow · Johnson · Key · Bailey · H. Jackson · Whitthorne · Bate · Frazier · Lea · McKellar · Gore, Sr. · Brock III · Sasser · Frist · Corker Class 2 Blount · J. Anderson · Cocke · Smith · Whiteside · Campbell · Wharton · Williams · A. Jackson · White · A. Anderson · Jarnagin · Bell · Nicholson · Fowler · Cooper · Harris · Turley · Carmack · Taylor · Sanders · Webb · Shields · Tyson · Brock I · Hull · Bachman · Berry · Stewart · Kefauver · Walters · Bass · Baker · Gore, Jr. · Mathews · Thompson · Alexander

v • d • e Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Chase • Crittenden • Burrill • Smith • Van Buren • Berrien • Rowan • Marcy • Wilkins • Clayton • Grundy • Wall • Berrien • Ashley • Butler • Bayard • Trumbull • Edmunds • Thurman • Edmunds • Hoar • Pugh • Hoar • Platt • Clark • Culberson • Nelson • Brandegee • Cummins • Norris • Ashurst • Van Nuys • McCarran • Wiley • McCarran • Langer • Kilgore • Eastland • Kennedy • Thurmond • Biden • Hatch • Leahy • Hatch • Leahy • Hatch • Specter • Leahy

v • d • e Cabinet of President Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) Vice President Richard M. Johnson (1837-1841) Secretary of State John Forsyth (1837-1841) Secretary of the Treasury Levi Woodbury (1837-1841) Secretary of War Joel R. Poinsett (1837-1841) Attorney General Benjamin F. Butler (1837-1838) • Felix Grundy (1838-1840) • Henry D. Gilpin (1837-1841) Postmaster General Amos Kendall (1837-1840) • John M. Niles (1840-1841) Secretary of the Navy Mahlon Dickerson (1837-1838) • James K. Paulding (1838-1841)

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