John Rowan was a 19th-century jurist and congressman. He served as United States Senator from Kentucky from 1825 to 1831.
Background
John Rowan was born near York, Pennsylvania, the son of William and Eliza (Cooper) Rowan. His father, having lost his modest fortune during the Revolution, removed to Kentucky about 1783 and settled at Louisville. Soon thereafter he removed to a site on the Green River, now called Calhoun, where he remained only for a short time before finally settling in Bardstown.
Education
John received his formal education in Bardstown in the celebrated school of James Priestley, before going on to Lexington to study law.
Career
Rowan received his license in 1795 and, beginning the practice of his profession immediately, he became in time an able criminal lawyer and a celebrated orator. In 1799 he represented Nelson County in the constitutional convention that drew up Kentucky's second constitution, and five years later he became secretary of state under Gov. Christopher Greenup.
In 1806, he was elected to Congress as a Republican from his old home, in spite of the fact that he was now living in Frankfort, in another district. When Aaron Burr sought his assistance in the court procedure in Frankfort in 1806, he refused on the ground that he was a congressman elect. The next year, when he entered the Tenth Congress, he moved a set of resolutions to bring about an investigation of the alleged Spanish intrigues of Harry Innes, a federal judge in Kentucky. Rowan was made chairman of the committee of investigation but was unable to find evidence sufficient to warrant impeachment proceedings.
From 1813 to 1817 he represented Nelson County in the Kentucky House, and in 1822 and 1824 he represented Jefferson County. In 1819 he was appointed to the court of appeals, the highest state court, but a year on the bench convinced him that the work of a judge was too confining, so he resigned in 1821. By this time his sympathy with the relief party had led him into a disagreement with the extreme conservatism that characterized the court.
In 1823-24 he led the fight against the old court, though in the end it turned out to be futile. The state always reposed great confidence in his ability and integrity. In 1820 the legislature appointed him with John J. Crittenden to adjust the troublesome boundary dispute with Tennessee; and three years later it gave him and Henry Clay the task of protecting the state's interests in the complicated dispute with Virginia over the occupying claimants laws.
In 1839 the United States made use of his services by appointing him on the commission set up to adjust the claims against Mexico. In the meantime, in 1824, the legislature had elected him to the federal Senate for the term from 1825 to 1831. He also took part in the Webster-Hayne debate. His ability as an orator obtained for him the commission from the legislature to make the commemorative address on the battle of Tippecanoe, and his interest in history brought about in 1838 his election to the presidency of the newly formed Kentucky Historical Society, a position he held until his death.
In further recognition, a new county was created and named for him. He died in Louisville, where he had made his home part of the time, but he was buried in the family cemetery near his Bardstown home, the famous "Federal Hill" of today, the home in which he entertained Lafayette and many other celebrated people, and where tradition erroneously holds that Stephen Collins Foster wrote "My Old Kentucky Home. "
Achievements
Connections
Rowan married Annie, the daughter of William Lytle, federal surveyor-general and large landholder in Ohio, and the aunt of William Haines Lytle. They had eight children.