View source for James Speed

{{Short description|American lawyer and politician (1812–1887)}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect|Attorney General Speed|the Attorney-General of Nigeria|Edwin Speed}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name        = James Speed
|image       = James Speed.jpg
|office      = 27th [[United States Attorney General]]
|president   = [[Abraham Lincoln]]<br>[[Andrew Johnson]]
|term_start  = December 2, 1864
|term_end    = July 22, 1866
|predecessor = [[Edward Bates]]
|successor   = [[Henry Stanbery]]
|office1     = Member of the <br>[[Kentucky House of Representatives]]
|term_start1 = 1847
|term_end1   = 1849
|birth_date  = {{birth date|1812|3|11}}
|birth_place = [[Jefferson County, Kentucky]], U.S.
|death_date  = {{death date and age|1887|6|25|1812|3|11}}
|death_place = [[Louisville, Kentucky]], U.S.
|resting_place = [[Cave Hill Cemetery]]<br />Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
|party       = [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] {{small|(Before 1860)}}<br>[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] {{small|(1860–1887)}}
|spouse      = Jane Cochran
|father      = [[John Speed (Kentucky)|John Speed]]
|education   = [[Spalding Hall|St. Joseph's College, Kentucky]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])}}<br>[[Transylvania University]] {{small|([[LLB]])}}
|allegiance  = {{flag|United States}}
|branch      = {{army|United States}}
|unit        = [[Louisville Home Guard]]
|battles     = [[American Civil War]]
|signature   = Signature of James Speed (1812–1887).png
}}
'''James Speed''' (March 11, 1812 – June 25, 1887) was an American lawyer, politician, and professor who was in 1864 appointed by [[Abraham Lincoln]] to be the [[United States Attorney General]]. Speed previously served in the [[Kentucky]] legislature and in local political offices.

==Early life==
Speed was born in [[Jefferson County, Kentucky]] to Judge [[John Speed (Kentucky)|John Speed]] and his second wife, Lucy Gilmer Fry. He was a distant descendant of the English cartographer [[John Speed]] and brother of [[Joshua Fry Speed]]. He graduated from [[St. Joseph's College (Kentucky)|St. Joseph's College]] in [[Bardstown, Kentucky]], studied law at [[Transylvania University]] and was admitted to the bar at [[Louisville]], in 1833.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Phelps |editor1-first=Shirelle |editor2-last=Lehman |editor2-first=Jeffrey |article=Speed, James|title=West's Encyclopedia of American Law |url=https://archive.org/details/westsencyclopedi08lehm |url-access=registration |date=2005 |publisher=Gale |location=Detroit, MI |pages=[https://archive.org/details/westsencyclopedi08lehm/page/272 272–273] |isbn=9780787663674 |edition=Volume 9, 2nd}}</ref>

==Career==
In 1841 Speed met fellow lawyer and future President [[Abraham Lincoln]] while Lincoln was staying at [[Farmington (Louisville, Kentucky)|Farmington]], the Speed family home in Louisville, while visiting James's brother, Joshua (whom he had befriended while the two lived in [[Springfield, Illinois]]). During Lincoln's stay, the two lawyers met almost daily to discuss legal matters of the day. James Speed lent Lincoln books from his law library.<ref>{{cite book|last=Donald |first=David Herbert | title=Lincoln |url=https://archive.org/details/lincoln00davi |url-access=registration | location=New York | publisher=Touchstone| year=1995 | page=[https://archive.org/details/lincoln00davi/page/88 88] |isbn=0684808463}}</ref>

Unlike his brother Joshua, James Speed opposed slavery and was active in the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]].<ref>audiobook by [[James W. Loewen]]</ref> In 1847 Speed was elected to the [[Kentucky House of Representatives]]. At this early point in his career, Speed was already agitating for the [[Abolitionism in the United States|emancipation]] of American slaves. However, Kentucky voters did not share these views, and he failed to win election as delegate to the 1849 Kentucky Constitutional Convention.

From 1851 to 1854, Speed served on the [[Louisville Board of Aldermen]], including two years as its president. He taught as a professor in the Law Department of the [[University of Louisville]] from 1856 to 1858, and would later return to teach from 1872 to 1879.{{Citation needed|date = February 2013}} He was also a member of the Louisville law firm [[Stites & Harbison]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.archive.org/details/americasgreatest00walt/page/520/mode/2up |title=America's Greatest Places to Work with A Law Degree |last=Walton |first=Kimm Alayne |year=1999 |pages=520 |publisher=Harcourt Brace Legal & Professional Publications |isbn=978-0-15-900180-6 |via=[[Archive.org]] |access-date=April 17, 2024}}</ref>

===Civil War era===
As the coming [[American Civil War|Civil War]] was [[Origins of the American Civil War|increasing in likelihood]], Speed worked to keep Kentucky in the [[United States|Union]]. He also became a commander of the [[Louisville Home Guard]]. Elected to the [[Kentucky Senate]] in 1861, Speed became the leader of the pro-Union forces. In 1862 he introduced a bill to "confiscate the property" of those supporting the Confederacy in Kentucky.{{Citation needed|date = February 2013}}

In December 1864, United States President [[Abraham Lincoln]] appointed Speed [[Attorney General of the United States]]. After Lincoln's assassination, Speed became increasingly associated with the [[Radical Republican]]s and advocated allowing male African Americans to vote. Disillusioned with the increasingly conservative policies of former Democratic President [[Andrew Johnson]], Speed resigned from the Cabinet in July 1866 and resumed the practice of law.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cole |first1=Jennifer |title="For the Sake of the Songs of the Men Made Free": James Speed and the Emancipationists' Dilemma in Nineteenth-century Kentucky |journal=Ohio Valley History |date=2004 |volume=4 |pages=27–48}}</ref>

===Postwar career===
Speed was a delegate to the [[National Union Convention]] in [[Philadelphia]] in 1866 and fellow delegates chose him as the convention's president. However, Speed's racial views were unpopular in Kentucky. Speed ran to become U.S. Senator from Kentucky in 1867, as President Johnson's ally Senator [[James Guthrie (Kentucky politician)|James Guthrie]] (a Unionist and former slaveholder) retired citing health issues. However, voters instead elected Democrat [[Thomas C. McCreery]].

In 1868, Speed ran for the [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] nomination for [[Vice President of the United States]] but the convention instead chose [[Schuyler Colfax]].

Speed also ran for [[U.S. Representative]] from Kentucky's [[Kentucky's 5th congressional district|5th District]] in 1870, to succeed Democrat [[Asa Grover]], who had been accused of disloyalty but was exonerated and finished his only term. However, voters instead selected Democrat [[Boyd Winchester]] to fill the seat. Speed also was a delegate to [[Republican National Convention]] from Kentucky in 1872.

He was elected a 3rd class companion of the [[Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States]] in recognition of his service to the Union during the Civil War.

==Death and legacy==
Speed died in Louisville in 1887, and is interred at [[Cave Hill Cemetery]] in that city. His family's estate, [[Farmington (Louisville, Kentucky)|Farmington]], is now listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]], and while the farm is substantially reduced in size, the house has been restored and has become a local event venue, and the focus of living history events.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.historicfarmington.org/ | title=Farmington Historic Home &#124; Life on a Kentucky Plantation | access-date=December 1, 2017 | archive-date=January 31, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131025905/http://www.historicfarmington.org/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

==In popular culture==
*Speed was portrayed by William von Hardenburg in the 1924 film ''[[The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln]]''.
*The actor John Lescault portrayed Speed in the 1998 television film ''[[The Day Lincoln Was Shot]]''.
*In the 2012 film ''[[Lincoln (film)|Lincoln]]'', James Speed was portrayed by Richard Topol.

==See also==
*[[Farmington Historic Plantation]]
*[[List of people from the Louisville metropolitan area]]
*[[Louisville in the American Civil War]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book
| first=Bryan S.
| last=Bush
| year=2008
| title=Lincoln and the Speeds: The Untold Story of a Devoted and Enduring Friendship
| publisher=Acclaim Press
| location=Morley, Missouri
| isbn=978-0-9798802-6-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Holmberg |first=James J. |editor-first=John E. |editor-last=Kleber |year=2001 |title=The Encyclopedia of Louisville |chapter=Speed, James |page=842 |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]] |isbn=0-8131-2100-0 |oclc=247857447 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pXbYITw4ZesC}}
* {{cite journal |last=Springer |first=Helen L. |title=James Speed, The Attorney General, 1864–1866 |journal=The Filson Club History Quarterly |volume=11 |issue=3 |date=July 1937 |url=https://filsonhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/publicationpdfs/11-3-2_James-Speed-The-Attorney-General-1864-1866_Springer-Helen-L..pdf |access-date=May 25, 2024}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/residents-visitors/cabinet-vice-presidents/cabinet-vice-presidents-james-speed-1812-1887/ Mr. Lincoln's White House: James Speed Biography]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120206190640/http://www.bryansbush.com/hub.php?page=articles&layer=a0710 "Joshua and James Speed"]}} — Article by Civil War historian/author Bryan S. Bush
* {{Find a Grave|6984109}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-legal}}
{{U.S. Cabinet official box
| before     = [[Edward Bates]]
| after      = [[Henry Stanbery]] 
| years      = 1864&ndash;1866
| president  = [[Abraham Lincoln]], [[Andrew Johnson]]
| department = Attorney General}}
{{s-end}}
{{USAttGen}}
{{Lincoln cabinet}}
{{Andrew Johnson cabinet}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speed, James}}
[[Category:1812 births]]
[[Category:1887 deaths]]
[[Category:American abolitionists]]
[[Category:Kentucky state senators]]
[[Category:Louisville, Kentucky, in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Politicians from Louisville, Kentucky]]
[[Category:People of Kentucky in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Union (American Civil War) political leaders]]
[[Category:Attorneys general of the United States]]
[[Category:University of Louisville faculty]]
[[Category:Transylvania University alumni]]
[[Category:Kentucky lawyers]]
[[Category:Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery]]
[[Category:Kentucky Whigs]]
[[Category:Kentucky Republicans]]
[[Category:Lincoln administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:Andrew Johnson administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:Southern Unionists in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Speed family]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly]]