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{{Short description|American politician (1809–1841)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix =
|name = Richard Menefee
|honorific-suffix =
|image = Richard-Menefee.jpg
|state = [[Kentucky]]
|district = [[Kentucky's 11th congressional district|11th]]
|term_start = March 4, 1837
|term_end = March 3, 1839
|predecessor = [[Richard French (American politician)|Richard French]]
|successor = [[Landaff Andrews]]
|birth_date = December 4, 1809
|birth_place = [[Owingsville, Kentucky]], U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|1841|2|21|1809|12|4}}
|death_place = [[Frankfort, Kentucky]], U.S.
|restingplace = [[Cave Hill Cemetery]]<br />[[Louisville, Kentucky]], U.S.
|restingplacecoordinates =
|party = [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]]
|otherparty = 
|spouse = {{marriage|Sarah Bell Jouett|1832}}
|children = 3
|relations =
|residence =
|alma_mater = [[Transylvania University]]
|occupation = Tavern keeper, teacher
|profession = Lawyer
|religion =
|signature = Richard-Menefee-sig.jpg
|footnotes =
}}

'''Richard Hickman Menefee''' (December 4, 1809 – February 21, 1841) was a [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] from [[Kentucky]]. Due to his oratory skill, he was dubbed "the young [[Patrick Henry]] of the West." He was presumed the successor to [[Henry Clay]] as leader of the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] until his death at age thirty-one.

Menefee received a meager education in his early life. A dispute with his stepfather caused him to leave home in his mid-teens. He worked as a teacher to support himself and pay to finish his education. He graduated from [[Transylvania University]] and studied law. In 1831, he was appointed [[Commonwealth's Attorney]] for Kentucky's eleventh district and was elected to the [[Kentucky House of Representatives]] the following year.

In 1836, Menefee was elected to the House of Representatives. His best known speech in that body urged restraint in the [[Caroline affair|''Caroline'' affair]] with the British. His reputation, and that of fellow Kentuckian [[John J. Crittenden]], were tarnished due to their involvement in a duel between Representatives [[William J. Graves]] and [[Jonathan Cilley]], in which the latter was mortally wounded. He did not stand for re-election following his term in office and returned to his legal practice. In 1841, he was elected to the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]], but died five days later before he could take office. [[Menifee County, Kentucky]], despite the spelling discrepancy, is named in his honor.

==Early life==
Richard Hickman Menefee was born on December 4, 1809, in [[Owingsville, Kentucky]].<ref name=ncab420>''National Cyclopedia of American Biography'', p. 420.</ref> He was the third of five sons born to Richard and Mary (Longsdale) Menefee.<ref name=mathias624>Mathias, p. 624.</ref> His father was an Irish [[Pottery|potter]] who immigrated to Kentucky from [[Virginia]] in the 1790s and became one of the founders of the city of Owingsville.<ref name=mathias624 /> Despite a limited education, the elder Richard Menefee was elected to multiple terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives and one term in the [[Kentucky Senate]].<ref name=ncab420 />

It was while the elder Richard Menefee was in [[Frankfort, Kentucky|Frankfort]] for a session of the General Assembly that his son Richard was born. When asked to name the child at his [[baptism]], his mother christened him Henry Clay Menefee, after Kentucky statesman [[Henry Clay]]. When his father returned from his legislative duties, he changed the child's name to Richard Hickman Menefee in honor of his Senate colleague, [[Richard Hickman]].<ref>Townsend, pp. 16–17.</ref>

Menefee's father died in 1815.<ref name=mathias624 /> Four years later, his mother married Colonel George Lansdown, proprietor of a spa in [[Bath County, Kentucky|Bath County]].<ref name=mathias624 /> Until the age of twelve, Menefee was educated by his mother.<ref name=ncab420 /> He then enrolled at Walker Bourne's preparatory school in Bath County, where he was a classmate of future congressmen [[Henry S. Lane]] and [[John Jameson (politician)|John Jameson]].<ref>Townsend, pp. 25–26.</ref> Two years later, family troubles forced him to withdraw from school and help support the family.<ref name=mathias624 /> He began work at a [[tavern]] in Owingsville and engaged in farm work during the summer months.<ref name=ncab420 /> He continued his studies as time allowed and became a teacher at age fifteen.<ref name=ncab420 /> A short time later, he left home due to a dispute with his stepfather.<ref name=ncab420 /> He relocated to [[Mount Sterling, Kentucky]], and paid his way through school.<ref name=ncab420 />

At age eighteen, Menefee entered Transylvania University in the junior class.<ref name=ncab420 /> Though the college's rules forbade conveying degrees upon underage candidates, Menefee was granted an exception by President [[Horace Holley (1781-1827)|Horace Holley]] and graduated with his class.<ref name=ncab420 /> Following his graduation, he [[reading law|read law]] with Judge James Trimble.<ref name=mathias624 /> He returned to Mount Sterling, where he was admitted to the [[bar (law)|bar]] in 1830 and opened a law practice in 1831.<ref name=ncab420 /> In October 1831, he enrolled at Transylvania University law school and on March 3, 1832, earned a law degree.<ref>Townsend, pp. 39, 43.</ref> Notable in Menefee's graduating class was [[George W. Johnson (governor)|George W. Johnson]], who would later serve as governor of Kentucky's [[Confederate government of Kentucky|provisional Confederate government]] during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].<ref>Townsend, p. 43.</ref>

On August 14, 1832, Menefee married Sarah Bell Jouett, daughter of famed Kentucky painter [[Matthew Harris Jouett]]. The couple had three children: Alexander (who died as an infant), Richard, and Mary.<ref name=mathias624 />

==Political career==
On November 15, 1831, [[Governor of Kentucky|Governor]] [[Thomas Metcalfe (Kentucky politician)|Thomas Metcalfe]] appointed Menefee to succeed his law tutor, James Trimble, as Commonwealth's Attorney for the 11th district.<ref>Townsend, p. 40.</ref> He held this office until 1836, when he resigned to seek election to the Kentucky House of Representatives.<ref name=mathias624 /> In the midst of the campaign, Governor [[James Turner Morehead (Kentucky politician)|James Turner Morehead]] called for one thousand mounted soldiers for service in the [[Second Seminole War]].<ref>Townsend, p. 57.</ref> A [[company (military)|company]] was raised in [[Montgomery County, Kentucky|Montgomery County]], and they chose Menefee as their [[Captain (U.S. Army)|captain]], but the requisite thousand men reached Governor Morehead before Menefee's company; consequently, Menefee's men were turned away.<ref>Townsend, p. 58.</ref> Menefee returned to the campaign trail, and he was elected as a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] to represent Montgomery County in the Kentucky House of Representatives.<ref name=ncab420 />

Menefee was appointed to the House Ways and Means Committee.<ref>Townsend, p. 63.</ref> The first bill he offered to the House authorized the construction of the first [[Toll road|turnpike]] in Bath County and gave control of the turnpike to the Owingsville and Big Sandy Road Company; this bill passed and was signed into law by Governor [[James Clark (Kentucky politician)|James Clark]] on February 16, 1832.<ref>Townsend, pp. 62–63.</ref> His most notable action in the House was arguing against the repeal of an 1833 law that prohibited the importation of slaves.<ref name=ncab420 /> Fellow representative [[Thomas Francis Marshall|Thomas F. Marshall]] called Menefee's speech on this occasion "the master effort of his mind that winter."<ref>Townsend, p. 65.</ref>

In April 1837, Menefee announced that he would challenge [[incumbent]] [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Richard French (American politician)|Richard French]] for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.<ref>Townsend, p. 74.</ref> Menefee defeated French by a margin of 234 votes and was the youngest member of the [[25th United States Congress|Twenty-fifth Congress]].<ref>Townsend, pp. 79, 82.</ref> ''Youth's History of Kentucky'', an 1898 school textbook, records that some referred to Menefee as "the young [[Patrick Henry]] of the West" due to his considerable oratory skill.<ref>Smith, p. 230.</ref> He was appointed to the Committee on Expenditures of the Public Buildings and the Committee on Patents.<ref>Townsend, p. 86.</ref> He opposed several measures favored by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Martin van Buren]], including a bill to cease distributing the federal budget surplus to the states and a bill authorizing the printing of an additional $10 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=10000000|start_year=1898}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) in currency.<ref>Townsend, pp. 88, 110.</ref> Both measures passed over his objections.<ref>Townsend, p. 112.</ref>

[[File:Destruction of the Caroline.jpg|thumb|left|''The Destruction of the Caroline'' by [[George Tattersall]]]]
In 1837, rebels seeking a more democratic Canada fled to [[Navy Island]] in the [[Niagara River]]. The rebels, led by [[William Lyon Mackenzie]], found sympathy with Americans across the river in New York. These Americans carried supplies to the rebels aboard the steamship ''Caroline''. In retaliation, a group of British and Canadian loyalists crossed the river, loosed the ''Caroline'' and set her on fire, then put her in the river's current, sending her over [[Niagara Falls]].<ref>Jones, pp. 24–31.</ref> The ''Caroline'' affair provoked anger and anti-British sentiment in the United States. It was upon this subject that Menefee made his most notable speech in the House.<ref>Mathias, pp. 624–625.</ref> He urged restraint in responding to the British and proclaimed that he saw no great principles involved in the affair.<ref>Jones, p. 34</ref>{{ref|caroline|[a]}}

On February 1, 1838, a dispute arose surrounding the election of [[Seargent Smith Prentiss]] and [[Thomas J. Word]] – both of [[Mississippi]] – to the House of Representatives. Menefee contested the claims of Virginia's [[James M. Mason]] and [[South Carolina]]'s [[Hugh S. Legare]] that the Mississippians had not been properly elected. Both were eventually allowed to retain their seats.<ref>Townsend, pp. 132–133.</ref>

In 1838, Menefee and [[John J. Crittenden]] served as seconds for fellow Kentucky representative [[William J. Graves]] in a duel in which Graves killed [[Maine]] representative [[Jonathan Cilley]].<ref name=mathias625>Mathias, p. 625.</ref> The House [[censure]]d Graves over the incident, and the reputations of both Crittenden and Menefee were tarnished by their involvement.<ref name=mathias625 /> Shortly thereafter, the House passed anti-dueling legislation.<ref>Townsend in ''Kentucky in American Letters'', p. 173.</ref> Menefee's longest speech in the House was with regard to this law, and was delivered in three parts on April 23, 28, and 30, 1838.<ref>Townsend, p. 152.</ref> Menefee voluntarily retired from public life after serving only a single term in the House.<ref name=ncab420 />

==Later life and death==
Menefee returned to Kentucky, settling in [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]], where he resumed his law practice.<ref name=ncab420 /> On a return trip to Owingsville, he successfully defended a man accused of murder in a dispute over rights to an [[ore]] bed. His opponent in the case was his old colleague from the House, Thomas F. Marshall. Menefee's biographer, John Townsend, called the case "the second greatest law case in which [Menefee] was ever engaged."<ref>Townsend, pp. 240–241.</ref>

The greatest, according to Townsend, was the 1840 case involving the [[will (law)|will]] of a man named James Rogers. In the will, Rogers expressed that he had already provided assets from his estate amounting to five thousand dollars to the children of his first marriage and that upon his death, his estate was to be divided among his second wife and her children. A team of Menefee, future governor [[James Fisher Robinson|James F. Robinson]], and Madison C. Johnson represented the five children from the first marriage, who filed suit to set aside the will on the grounds that their father had suffered a stroke and was not of sound mind when constructing the will. They argued opposite Henry Clay and [[Robert C. Wickliffe]]. The case lasted six days, and the decision in the case went against Menefee and Robinson.

Menefee's health was already beginning to fail during the trial with Clay, and he last appeared in court in September 1840.<ref name=ncab420 /> In 1841, [[Cassius Marcellus Clay (politician)|Cassius M. Clay]] nominated Menefee to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the resignation of John J. Crittenden.<ref name=mathias625 /> He was elected, but died five days later.<ref name=mathias625 /> He was commonly reported to have died of [[tuberculosis]], but Townsend claims the true cause of death was "consumption of the [[bowels]]."<ref>Townsend, p. 266.</ref> He was interred in a private cemetery in [[Fayette County, Kentucky|Fayette County]].<ref name=congbio>Congressional Biography.</ref> On October 28, 1893, he was re-interred in [[Cave Hill Cemetery]] in [[Louisville, Kentucky]].<ref name=congbio />

The Transylvania Law Society asked Menefee's colleague, Thomas F. Marshall, to deliver a speech on Menefee's life and character at Marshall's convenience.<ref>Townsend, p. 274.</ref> Marshall spent seven weeks preparing the eulogy.<ref name=townsend275>Townsend, p. 275.</ref> Afterward, the Society asked Marshall for the text of the speech, and it was published as a pamphlet.<ref>Townsend, p. 301</ref> Kentucky historian Lewis Collins opined that, had he lived, Menefee would have succeeded Henry Clay as the leader of the Whig Party.<ref name=townsend275 /> [[Menifee County, Kentucky]], is named in Menefee's honor, despite the unintentional misspelling of the name.<ref name=mathias625 />

==References==
{{reflist|3}}
{{CongBio|M000638}}
*{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Howard |author2=Donald Allen Rakestraw |title=Prologue to Manifest Destiny |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=1997 |isbn=0-8420-2498-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/prologuetomanife0000jone }}
*{{cite book |last=Mathias |first=Frank L. |editor=Kleber, John E. |others=Associate editors: [[Thomas D. Clark]], Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter |title=The Kentucky Encyclopedia |year=1992 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]] |isbn=0-8131-1772-0}}
*{{cite book |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |publisher=J. T. White |year=1899 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nl8oAAAAYAAJ |access-date=2008-11-29 |pages=420–421}}
*{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Z. F. |title=Youth's History of Kentucky |publisher=Courier Journal Job Printing Company |year=1898 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OPITAAAAYAAJ |access-date=2008-11-30}}
*{{cite book |last=Townsend |first=John Wilson |author2=Dorothy Edwards Townsend |title=Kentucky in American Letters, 1784–1912 |publisher=The Torch Press |year=1913 |isbn=9780722249413 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nfJrAAAAIAAJ |access-date=2008-11-29}}
*{{cite book |last=Townsend |first=John Wilson |title=Richard Hickman Menefee |publisher=Neale Publishing |year=1907 |url=http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;rgn=full%20text;idno=b98-37-40931404 |access-date=2008-11-22}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Marshall |first=Thomas Francis |author-link=Thomas Francis Marshall |title=Speeches and writings of Hon. Thomas F. Marshall |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924024322947 |editor=W. L. Barre |publisher=Applegate and Company |year=1858 |chapter=An Address on the Life and Character of Richard H. Menefee |pages= [https://archive.org/details/cu31924024322947/page/n220 211]–231}}

==Notes==
{{refbegin}}
{{note|caroline|[a]}}A transcript of this speech can be found in Townsend's biography of Menefee on pages 113–128.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
*{{Find a Grave|7094823}}
*[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mena-mercado.html Richard Menefee at The Political Graveyard]

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{{US House succession box
| state = Kentucky| district = 11| before= [[Richard French (American politician)|Richard French]]| after = [[Landaff Andrews]]
| years= 1837–1839 (obsolete district)
}}
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menefee, Richard Hickman}}
[[Category:1809 births]]
[[Category:1841 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery]]
[[Category:Kentucky lawyers]]
[[Category:Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives]]
[[Category:People from Owingsville, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Transylvania University alumni]]
[[Category:Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky]]
[[Category:American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly]]
[[Category:Kentucky commonwealth's attorneys]]

Richard Menefee - Revision history

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