James Speed
James Speed (March 11, 1812–June 25, 1887) was a American lawyer, politician and professor.
He was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky. He graduated from St. Joseph's College in Kentucky, studied law at Transylvania University and was admitted to the bar at Louisville, in 1833. In 1847 Speed was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives, he was a candidate for delegate to Kentucky state constitutional convention in 1849, and in 1861 elected to the Kentucky Senate. He agitated for the emancipation of American slaves from an early point in his career. As the American Civil War grew more likely, he worked to keep Kentucky in the Union. He also became a commander of the Louisville Home Guard.
In 1864, President Lincoln appointed him Attorney General of the United States. He resigned in July 1866 and resumed the practice of his profession. In 1868, Speed was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Vice President of the United States.
Speed was a delegate to the Philadelphia "Loyalists' Convention" in 1866 and served as president of the Convention. He was a candidate for U.S. Representative from Kentucky's 5th District in 1870, and was a delegate to Republican National Convention from Kentucky in 1872. He also was a professor in the Law Department of the University of Louisville. He died in Louisville, Kentucky in 1887, and is interred at Cave Hill Cemetery in that city.
