Felix Grundy | Biography

Felix Grundy briefly served as U.S. attorney general from 1838 to 1839 during the presidency of Martin Van Buren. A prominent criminal attorney and Democratic Party politician with ties to Andrew Jackson, Grundy also served in all three branches of government during his long career of public service.

Grundy was born on September 11, 1777, in Berkley County, Virginia, which is now part of the state of West Virginia. Raised in Kentucky, Grundy's frontier childhood deprived him of a formal education. However, Grundy was able to become a lawyer by the practice known as "reading the law." During this period, very few lawyers received their legal education through a law school. Grundy, like thousands of other young men of the time, worked in a law office doing clerical tasks and studying law books. Through this apprenticeship he obtained a sufficient education pass the Kentucky bar exam in 1797. He quickly established a thriving criminal law practice.

However, Grundy soon became attracted to politics and government. He helped draft the Kentucky state constitution in 1799, and he was elected to the first session of the Kentucky state legislature the following year. Six years later, Grundy shifted to the judicial branch, when he was appointed a state supreme court justice. Grundy was chief justice within a year.

Grundy resigned his seat shortly after his appointment and returned to private practice. Despite his intentions to remain outside of politics, he was persuaded to run for Congress in 1811. Elected to the House of Representatives, Grundy spent the next four years pressing for westward expansion of the frontier. His vision of territorial expansion was grand, as he proposed the annexation of Canada.

After leaving Congress in 1815, Grundy resumed his Tennessee law practice. However, Grundy again went back into politics. In 1819, he was elected to the Tennessee legislature. Moreover, he moved beyond his personal political fortunes to work for the Democratic Party and to support Andrew Jackson's bid for the presidency. Grundy worked on Jackson's losing campaign in 1824 but returned four years later to help Jackson reach his goal. Jackson's presidency and politics had a dramatic effect on the United States, shifting the balance of power from the federal government to state governments. In addition, the Democratic Party grew in strength. Grundy capitalized on this political climate and his association with Jackson. In 1829, the governor of Tennessee appointed him to the U.S. Senate to fill a vacancy, and in 1833, the Tennessee legislature elected him to a full term.

Grundy resigned his seat in 1838 to accept President Martin Van Buren's appointment as U.S. attorney general. Grundy soon realized he had made a mistake. The office of attorney general at that time had little power and virtually no legal staff to support Grundy. It was a part time position that required Grundy to manage his private practice at the same time. These deficiencies, coupled with the Van Buren's growing unpopularity, led Grundy to resign in 1839. Grundy timed his resignation to coincide with a vacancy in the Senate. The governor obliged Grundy by reappointing him to the seat. Grundy died in Nashville on December 19, 1840.