View source for Linn Boyd

{{short description|American politician}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Linn Boyd
| image = LinnBoyd.jpg
| imagesize = 
| smallimage =
| caption =
| order1 = 20th
| office1 = Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
| term_start1 = December 1, 1851
| term_end1 = March 3, 1855
| predecessor1 = [[Howell Cobb]]
| successor1 = [[Nathaniel P. Banks]]
|office2     = Leader of the [[House Democratic Caucus#Caucus Leader|House Democratic Caucus]]
|term_start2  =December 1, 1851
|term_end2  = March 3, 1855 
|predecessor2 = [[Howell Cobb]]
|successor2   = [[James Lawrence Orr]]
| state3 = [[Kentucky]]
| district3 = {{ushr|Kentucky|1|1st}}
| term_start3 = March 4, 1839 
| term_end3 = March 3, 1855
| predecessor3 = [[John L. Murray (representative)|John L. Murray]]
| successor3 = [[Henry Cornelius Burnett|Henry C. Burnett]]
| term_start4 = March 4, 1835
| term_end4 = March 3, 1837
| predecessor4 = [[Chittenden Lyon]]
| successor4 = [[John L. Murray (representative)|John L. Murray]]
| order5 = 17th [[Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky]]
| term_start5 = August 30, 1859
| term_end5 = December 17, 1859
| governor5 = [[Beriah Magoffin]]
| predecessor5 = [[James Greene Hardy|James G. Hardy]]
| successor5 = [[Richard Taylor Jacob|Richard T. Jacob]]
| office6 = Member of the [[Kentucky House of Representatives]]
| term6 = 1827<br>1831

| birth_date = November 22, 1800
| birth_place = [[Nashville, Tennessee]]
| death_date = December 17, 1859 (aged&nbsp;59)
| death_place = [[Paducah, Kentucky]]
| nationality =
| party = [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian]]<br />[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| otherparty =
| spouse = Alice Bennett<br />Anna (Rhey) Dixon
| relations = Abraham Boyd (Father)<br />Elizabeth Linn Boyd (Mother)
| children = Butler Boyd<br />Linn Boyd Jr.<br />Felix Boyd<br />Rhey Boyd
| residence =
| alma_mater =
| occupation =
| profession = Politician<br />Farmer
| religion =
| signature = Linn Boyd Signature.svg
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
[[File:Alney-McLean---Paducah-sign-for-Wiki.jpg|thumb|Sign in front of the [[McCracken, Kentucky]] Courthouse (in [[Paducah, Kentucky]]) commemorating early members of the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] representing [[Jackson Purchase (U.S. historical region)]].  The "First District" in the title actually changed over time. It refers to the Jackson Purchase, which was in the {{ushr|KY|5|C}} from 1819 to 1823, the {{ushr|KY|12|C}} until 1833, and then the {{ushr|KY|1|C}} until the end of the sign's lineage in 1855.]]
'''Linn Boyd''' (November 22, 1800 &ndash; December 17, 1859) (also spelled "Lynn") was a prominent US politician of the 1840s and 1850s, and served as [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives]] from 1851 to 1855. Boyd was elected to the House as a [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian]] from [[Kentucky]] from 1835 to 1837 and again as a [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]] from 1839 to 1855, serving seven terms in the House.<ref>John E.L. Robinson, ''Linn Boyd'' in Kentucky Encyclopedia, p. 108, available online at http://www.kyenc.org/entry/b/BOYDL01.html</ref> [[Boyd County, Kentucky]] is named in his honor.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_luoxAQAAMAAJ | title=The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 1 | publisher=Kentucky State Historical Society | year=1903 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_luoxAQAAMAAJ/page/n115 34]}}</ref>

==Early and family life==

Born to the wife of part-time delegate Abraham Boyd in [[Nashville, Tennessee]], he was raised and educated to some minimal extent in Trigg County. In 1832, Boyd married Trigg County native Alice C. Bennett. In 1850, the widower married a widow from Pennsylvania, Anna L. Dixon.<ref name="kentucky">Kentucky bio</ref>

==Early career==

Boyd moved to [[Calloway County, Kentucky|Calloway County]] to farm in 1826. The next year he became Calloway County's delegate in the [[Kentucky House of Representatives]], and served alongside his father (who represented Trigg County) in 1828–1829.<ref name="kentucky" /> In 1831 Boyd moved back to Trigg County and its voters elected him to represent them in the state House.

==U.S. Congressman==
{{Further info|Presidency of Andrew Jackson|Presidency of Martin Van Buren|William Henry Harrison#Presidency (1841)|Presidency of John Tyler|Presidency of James K. Polk|Zachary Taylor#Presidency (1849–1850)|Presidency of Millard Fillmore|Presidency of Franklin Pierce|24th United States Congress|26th United States Congress|27th United States Congress|28th United States Congress|29th United States Congress|30th United States Congress|31st United States Congress|32nd United States Congress|33rd United States Congress}}

In 1833, Boyd lost his first campaign for the [[United States House of Representatives]]. In 1835 he was elected to the House and served there until 1837, when a Whig landslide resulting from the [[Panic of 1837]] cost him his seat.

Kentucky voters of the First Congressional District soon returned Boyd to the House, and he would serve from 1839 through 1855. He was a strong supporter of President [[Andrew Jackson]]. Boyd played a key role in maneuvering the annexation of Texas through Congress during the term of President [[John Tyler]] in 1845. Boyd was also important in getting the [[Compromise of 1850]], chiefly credited to [[Henry Clay]], passed through Congress. Largely though his prominence in shepherding the compromise to passage, Boyd was elected [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] in 1851 and held that office until 1855.

While in the House, he sufficiently impressed his colleague [[Charles S. Benton]] that he named his son, the future inventor and businessman [[Linn Boyd Benton]], after him.<ref name="Linn Boyd Benton, Morris Fuller Benton, and Typemaking at ATF">{{cite journal|last1=Cost|first1=Patricia|title=Linn Boyd Benton, Morris Fuller Benton, and Typemaking at ATF|journal=Printing History|date=1994|volume=16|url=https://d3eb7xfyht02et.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/31-32-Cost-Benton1.pdf|access-date=17 December 2016}}</ref>

==Later career==
While still in Congress, Boyd declined a nomination for [[Governor of Kentucky]] in 1848 and was replaced by [[Lazarus W. Powell]]. In 1852, he moved to [[Paducah, Kentucky|Paducah]].

After leaving the House, he was mentioned as a candidate for [[Vice President of the United States]] at the [[1856 Democratic National Convention]] but was never officially nominated; the eventual nominee was fellow Kentuckian [[John C. Breckinridge]].

Kentucky voters elected Boyd the [[Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky|16th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky]] in 1859, but he died after less than four months in office. This became significant with the onset of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. Governor [[Beriah Magoffin]], who supported [[slavery]], [[secession]], and [[states' rights]], became increasingly unpopular and distrusted as he sought to keep [[Kentucky]] on a neutral course between the Union and the [[Confederate States of America]]. Unionists held a two-thirds majority in both houses of the [[Kentucky General Assembly]] in the summer of 1861 and frequently overrode Magoffin's vetoes. By August 1862, Magoffin made it clear that he was willing to resign the governorship. However, due to Linn Boyd's death, the person next in line to become [[Governor of Kentucky]] was [[Speaker (politics)|Speaker of the Senate]] [[John F. Fisk]], whom Magoffin thought unacceptable. After Fisk resigned as Speaker and was replaced by [[James Fisher Robinson|James F. Robinson]], Magoffin resigned. Thus, Robinson became governor, and Fisk was reinstalled as Speaker of the Senate.

==Death and burial==
Boyd died in Paducah on December 17, 1859. He was buried at Paducah's Oak Grove Cemetery. Oaklands, a spacious brick home he had built in Paducah in 1852, no longer exists except as a street name.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{CongBio|B000719}}
*{{cite book |last=Perrin |first=William Henry |title=Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky : historical and biographical |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028845762 |publisher=F.A. Battey Publishing Company |year=1884 |page=art II, p. 29}}

{{Wikiquote}}

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{{US House succession box
| state=Kentucky
| district=1
| before=[[Chittenden Lyon]]
| after=[[John L. Murray (representative)|John L. Murray]]
| years=March 4, 1835 &ndash; March 3, 1837
}}
{{US House succession box
| state=Kentucky
| district=1
| before=[[John L. Murray (representative)|John L. Murray]]
| after=[[Henry Cornelius Burnett|Henry C. Burnett]]
| years=March 4, 1839 &ndash; March 3, 1855
}}
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{{succession box| title=[[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives]]| before=[[Howell Cobb]]| after=[[Nathaniel Prentiss Banks|Nathaniel P. Banks]]| years=December 1, 1851 &ndash; March 3, 1853;<br />December 5, 1853 &ndash; March 3, 1855}}
{{succession box| title=[[Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky]]| before=[[James Greene Hardy|James G. Hardy]]| after=[[Richard Taylor Jacob]]| years=1859}}
{{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Linn}}
[[Category:1800 births]]
[[Category:1859 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Nashville, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Speakers of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Jacksonian United States representatives from Kentucky]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Kentucky]]
[[Category:Lieutenant governors of Kentucky]]
[[Category:Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Farmers from Kentucky]]
[[Category:19th-century United States representatives]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly]]