Alexander Scott Bullitt was born in 1762 and was the son of Cuthbert and Helen (Scott) Bullitt. He was of Huguenot descent, the first of the line in America having come from France in 1685 and settled at Port Tobacco, Maryland. The family later moved to Dumfries, Virginia, where Alexander Scott Bullitt was born. His father was a judge of the supreme court of Virginia and an uncle, Captain Thomas Bullitt, was one of the first explorers of Kentucky.
Alexander was educated for law and in 1783 was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.
During 1783, however, Bullitt was induced by the lure of frontier life to move to Kentucky where he settled on Bull Skin Creek in Shelby County. Being too much exposed to the Indians there, he removed in two years to Jefferson County and settled about eight miles from Louisville on an estate which he named "Oxmoor" from Tristram Shandy.
In 1786 he was appointed county-lieutenant of Jefferson County and the next year was made a trustee of Louisville. He entered state politics in 1788 as a member of the convention to secure statehood and in 1792 became a member of the convention which drafted the first constitution.
One of the electors for selecting the governor under the first constitution, he was also chosen as one of the first state senators. He remained in the Senate by successive reelections until 1800 and throughout this period was its speaker.
In 1799 he was president of the convention which drafted the second constitution for Kentucky, and the next year he was elected lieutenant-governor, in which capacity he continued to preside over the Senate.
At the expiration of his term he was again elected to the Senate in 1804 where he remained until 1808, at which time he retired to private life.
He died at his home in 1816 and is buried in the family graveyard at Oxmoor.
Bullitt was one of the outstanding men of Kentucky from the beginning. He made a professional transition from serving as a county-lieutenant of Jefferson County to a trustee of Louisville. After the convetion which drafted the first constitution, he was appointed as one of the first state senators. Bullitt's long service in the Senate was a moderate work without special incident. Another Bullitt's achievement was that he was the head of the convention, which drafted the second constitution for Kentucky, serving as its president. The undoubtedly great influence he exerted was due to his reputation for probity and integrity. He was greatly honored by his contemporaries and Bullitt County was named for him.
He was twice married: first, in October 1785 to Priscilla Christian, daughter of Colonel William Christian, one of the best known of early Kentuckians; second, after her death, to Mary (Churchill) Prather, a widow.
