James Speed | Biography

James Speed served as U.S. attorney general from 1864 to 1866 under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. A Kentucky lawyer, law professor and politician, Speed's antislavery views before the Civil War hurt his popularity in this border state.

Speed was born on March 11, 1812 in Jefferson County, Kentucky. He graduated from St. Joseph's College in 1828 and then went to work as a clerk in the local courts. He soon enrolled in law classes at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Though he did not earn a degree, he was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1833 and then started a law practice in Louisville. During the 1830s he developed his practice and lectured at Louisville University but Speed eventually turned to state politics. Elected to the state legislature in 1841, Speed distinguished himself from many of his colleagues by opposing slavery. Kentucky was a slave state and Speed's views were not well received. Rather than risk inevitable defeat, Speed did not run for reelection. Speed regrouped and was elected again in 1847 but his anti-slavery views had grown even more passionate and he was defeated in 1849 by a pro-slavery candidate.

Following his defeat, Speed became a professor of law at the University of Louisville and gave up aspirations for political office. However, Speed had nurtured for many years a personal relationship with Abraham Lincoln, another opponent of slavery who lived in nearby Illinois. In 1861, as Lincoln was about to assume the presidency, southern states had announced their secession from the Union. As a border state, Kentucky was a prize that both the Confederacy and the Union wanted. Speed, working on behalf of Lincoln, helped persuade Kentucky's political leaders not secede.

Speed threw himself into the Civil War effort, recruiting troops for the Union. In 1864 Lincoln appointed him attorney general, but the war became the focus of Speed's energies. He did issue advisory opinions to Lincoln and the cabinet and was consulted on issues involving martial law and the suspension of habeas corpus.

The assassination of Lincoln had a profound effect on Speed's political outlook. As a citizen from a border state, Speed had tried to seek compromise on most issues. However, after Lincoln's death Speed became more rigid in his views on post-war policies. He adopted a tougher view similar to those held by Radical Republicans and advocated strong federal oversight during Reconstruction. He also issued an advisory opinion concerning the trial of presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth. Speed concluded that Booth and his fellow conspirators had acted as agents of the Confederacy and therefore should be tried by a military court.

Speed grew disenchanted with President Andrew Johnson's policies that sought to quickly reintegrate the South in the Union and to permit white southerners to reenter the political process. Speed resigned as attorney general in 1866 and returned to teaching law in Kentucky. However, he remained active in politics, acting as a delegate to the Republican national conventions of 1872 and 1876. Speed also toured on the national lecture circuit, recounting his friendship and political association with Lincoln. Speed died on June 25, 1887 at his home in Jefferson County, Kentucky.