John Breckinridge (U.S. Attorney General) - Kentucky Attorney General

Kentucky Attorney General

Kentucky needed qualified governmental leaders, and on December 19, 1793, Kentucky Governor Isaac Shelby appointed Breckinridge attorney general. Three weeks after accepting, he was offered the post of District Attorney for the Federal District of Kentucky, but he declined. Secretary of State Edmund Randolph directed Shelby to prevent French agents in Kentucky from organize an expedition against Spanish Louisiana. On Breckinridge's advice, Shelby responded that he lacked the authority to interfere. Lack of funding prevented the expedition, but Shelby's noncommittal response helped prompt passage of the Neutrality Act of 1794 which outlawed participation by U.S. citizens in such expeditions.

In November 1794, the Democratic-Republicans nominated Breckinridge to succeed John Edwards in the U.S. Senate. Federalists were generally unpopular in Kentucky, but the signing of Pinckney's Treaty – which temporarily secured use Kentucky's of the Mississippi River – and Anthony Wayne's expedition against the Indians in the Northwest Territory prompted a surge of support for the federal government in Kentucky. The election's first ballot reflected this, as Federalist candidate Humphrey Marshall received 18 votes to Breckinridge's 16, John Fowler's 8, and 7 votes for the incumbent Edwards. On the runoff ballot, Marshall was elected over Breckinridge by a vote of 28–22. Harrison posits that Marshall's incumbency in the General Assembly may have aided his election but notes that Marshall downplayed its significance.

In May 1796, Kentucky's gubernatorial electors convened to choose Shelby's successor. Their votes were split among four candidates; frontiersman Benjamin Logan received 21 votes, Baptist minister James Garrard received 17, Thomas Todd received 14, and a Breckinridge's cousin, Senator John Brown, received 1. The Kentucky Constitution did not specify whether a plurality or a majority was required for election, but the electors held a runoff vote. Most of Todd's supporters voted for Garrard, and he won the election. Breckinridge claimed he had no authority to intervene but declared that, as a private citizen, he believed Logan should be governor. The state senate was authorized to settle disputed elections, but they, too, refused to intervene. Breckinridge resigned as attorney general on November 30, 1797; the extension of the attorney general's duties to include representing the state in federal district court as well as the Kentucky Court of Appeals, and reluctance to serve under Garrard after publicly declaring he had no right to his office may have contributed to the decision. A month later, he declared his candidacy to fill a vacancy in the Fayette County delegation to the Kentucky House of Representatives. Of the 1,323 votes cast, he garnered 594 (45%), the most of any of the six candidates in the race.