Robert Jefferson Breckinridge - Service in The Kentucky General Assembly

Service in The Kentucky General Assembly

Following the advice of his older brother, Breckinridge obtained his law license on January 3, 1824, but the practice of law did not suit him. He instead decided to follow the family tradition and seek public office, campaigning for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives. Even in his early political career, he began to articulate his stance on the issues that would become his legacy. First, he shunned the states' rights viewpoint, stressing instead the need for a strong interdependence between the states. Second, he called for an end to slavery. Third, he emphasized the importance of education. Though they agreed on this last point, Breckinridge's father had ardently opposed emancipation of slaves and favored states' rights. Historian James Klotter opines that Louis Marshall and Robert's mother, Mary, may have influenced his positions.

The most politically charged issue in Kentucky during Breckinridge's campaign, however, was the Old Court-New Court controversy. The Panic of 1819 had left many Kentuckians in dire financial straits. Legislators sought to relieve some of the financial burden by passing a law of replevin which favored debtors. The Kentucky Court of Appeals, (the highest court in the Commonwealth at the time,) declared the law unconstitutional. The next year, an incensed General Assembly passed legislation that dissolved the court and replaced it with a new court. Neither court acknowledged the other as valid, and a confused public lost respect for public authority in general. The issue was generally split along party lines, with Democrats generally favoring the New Court and Whigs favoring the Old Court.

Breckinridge was able to dodge the issue during the campaign, which he won in 1825, but once he took office, he had to come down on one side or the other. He voted in favor of the Old Court, reflecting his upper class status and affinity for the establishment. In so doing, he identified himself with the party of Kentucky's favorite son, Henry Clay. The Whigs would control Kentucky politics for the next twenty-five years. In 1826, the majority of the General Assembly sided with the Old Court and abolished the New Court.

Eventually, tensions faded, but a bigger decision awaited Robert Breckinridge in 1828. He was chosen to sit on a committee that would draft Kentucky's response to the Nullification Crisis. Because much of South Carolina's reasoning for their actions was based on the logic of the Kentucky Resolutions, which were supported by Senator John Breckinridge, Robert Breckinridge now had to determine whether he should support the words of his late father or refute them. In the end, his Unionist sympathies overrode his sense of loyalty to his father; he sided with the committee's majority in condemning South Carolina's actions.