John Breckinridge

John Breckinridge (born Dec. 2, 1760, Staunton, Va.—died Dec. 14, 1806, Lexington, Ky., U.S.) was a Kentucky politician who sponsored Thomas Jefferson’s Kentucky Resolutions, which, like James Madison’s Virginia Resolutions, advocated a states’ rights view of the Union.

Breckinridge grew up on the Virginia frontier but nonetheless managed to attend William and Mary College for two years. While a student there he was elected to a seat in the Virginia legislature by his home district. Too young for the office, Breckinridge was elected twice more before finally being allowed to take his seat.

In 1792 he moved to Kentucky, giving up his newly won seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He settled near Lexington and developed a successful legal practice. In 1795 he was appointed attorney general for the state, and in 1797 he was elected to the legislature. There, in 1798, he introduced and guided to passage Jefferson’s Kentucky Resolutions (though Jefferson’s authorship was kept secret) that saw the Union as a compact among sovereign states and the federal government as a creation of the states.

Breckinridge served in the Kentucky legislature (two years as speaker of the House) until 1801. Elected to the U.S. Senate, he became an outspoken champion of the West during his tenure as a senator (1801–05). He solidly backed the purchase of the Louisiana Territory in 1803. In 1805 he resigned his Senate seat to become attorney general of the United States.