William Taylor Barry was an American statesman and jurist. He served as Postmaster General for most of the administration of President Andrew Jackson, and was the only Cabinet member to not resign in 1831 as a result of the Petticoat affair.
Background
William Taylor Barry was born on February 5, 1784, in Lunenburg, Virginia, the son of John and Susannah (Dozier) Barry, and while yet a boy became a part of the great migration of hungry land-seekers and lawyers looking for fortune and fame in Kentucky.
Education
He attended the common schools, Pisgah Academy and Kentucky Academy in Woodford County, Transylvania University at Lexington and graduated from the College of William & Mary at Williamsburg, Virginia in 1803.
Career
In 1806 he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives and again in 1809. As the troubles with England became more exasperating, he took a belligerent stand on the question of war and with his power of oratory stirred up the Kentuckians for the struggle. When the conflict began in 1812, he enlisted, but his only war service of note was in the battle of the Thames, where, as an aide to Gov. Shelby, he won the praise of Gen. Harrison.
Barry was more interested in politics than in war, so in 1814 he stood for reelection to the House and won. His popularity procured for him the next year an election to the United States Senate. The new position seems to have made little appeal to him. He appeared in Washington to take his seat two weeks late and throughout the whole session he did not make a single speech. He attended strictly to his duties of voting, however, and now and then offered a resolution. At the end of the session he resigned and returned to Kentucky. He entered the state Senate in 1817 and remained there until 1821. By this time the state, having passed through the evanescent and buoyant prosperity following the war, was in the throes of hard times. Forty state banks had been "littered, " and had died a speedy death. The state was divided into two bitterly contesting camps, the relief and anti-relief parties. Barry believed in the people and sympathized with them in their troubles. He had no time to study such intricate questions as banks and money while the people were sinking in despair under their heavy debts. He became a leader in the relief party and in 1821 was made their candidate for lieutenant-governor. In the election that followed he defeated W. B. Blackburn, the anti-relief candidate, 33, 000 to 22, 000. For the next four years he aided Gov. John Adair in putting through relief and replevin laws and in getting more worthless paper money printed.
One of his most constructive tasks was his effort to supply Kentucky with an effective educational system. As chairman of the committee appointed to investigate this subject he brought before the legislature a comprehensive report of an educational system which bore the approval of Jefferson, John Adams, and Robert Y. Hayne. It was debated but never adopted. Barry's four years in the state House served to dispel none of Kentucky's distress. Relief measures, it is true, had been passed, but the court of appeals, the state's supreme judicial tribunal, had promptly declared them to be unconstitutional. With this turn to events, the anger of the relief party scarcely knew bounds. Under pressure the legislature voted the court out of existence in 1824, and early the following year it set up a "New Court" with Barry as the chief justice. But the "Old Court" refused to disband, and for two years the state was on the verge of anarchy.
In December 1826 the anti-relief party or "Old Court" party, as it was now called, gained control of the state and voted Barry and his associates out of office. The times were now ripe for the first great national contest in Kentucky. Clay and Jackson were fighting for supremacy. Barry, who had formerly been a close friend of Clay's, deserted him after the Adams alliance and was now seeking to gain Kentucky for Jackson. As part of the plan he ran for governor in 1828 and was defeated by the Clay candidate by only 709 votes out of a total vote of 77, 171. In the presidential election he won the state for Jackson by almost 8, 000 majority. As a reward for his valuable service Barry was slated for a justiceship in the United States Supreme Court; but because John McLean, the hold-over postmaster general, desired that position, an exchange was made and Barry became postmaster general March 9, 1829. Before two years had passed the Senate was agitating an investigation of the department. A special committee was appointed in December 1830 and in the following March it produced a voluminous report, which was, however, not printed.
But Barry was not to be allowed to rest in peace; the agitation, which was continued against him, resulted in 1834-35 in both houses instituting investigations. He was charged with favoritism in making contracts for carrying the mails, with increasing payments to contractors far beyond the published schedules, with sweeping dismissals from office, with illegally borrowing money, and with general looseness in his bookkeeping. Barry successfully refuted the charges which in any way reflected on his own honesty or represented any radical departures from the established customs of the department. He truthfully claimed that the investigations were largely caused by partisan spite, and that it was not only against himself but also against Jackson. Weary of mind and sick of body, he resigned in April 1835, and his steadfast friend President Jackson appointed him minister to Spain. He died in Liverpool on the way to his new mission.
Achievements
Membership
During the 1820s, Barry was a member of the prestigious society, Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, who counted among their members former presidents Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions.
Connections
Barry was twice married: first, to Lucy Overton, and second, to Catherine Mason.