Kentucky. Governor (1828-1832 : Metcalfe)

Thomas Metcalfe served as Kentucky's tenth governor. He was elected to office in 1828 and was affiliated with the National Republican (later Whig) Party.

Metcalfe was born March 20, 1780 in Fauquier County, Virginia. In 1804 his family moved to Fayette County, Kentucky, later settling in Nicholas County. Metcalfe received little education in the common schools before being apprenticed to his older brother as a stonemason at the age of sixteen. Among his handiwork is the oldest Kentucky courthouse at Greensburg in Green County. During this time he was given the nickname "Old Stonehammer" which stayed with him the rest of his life.

Metcalfe held various political positions. He served in the State House of Representatives from 1812 to 1816, taking time out to serve as a captain at the Battle of Fort Meigs during the War of 1812. In 1819, Metcalfe was elected to the United States Congress where he served until he resigned in 1828 in order to run for governor.

In 1827, Metcalfe became the first Kentucky gubernatorial candidate to be nominated by party convention rather than by caucus. Metcalfe ran for governor under the National Republican Party (later Whig) against the Jacksonian party's nominee, William T. Barry, at a time when Andrew Jackson was extremely popular. Because it was Metcalfe who exemplified the common man more than Barry, Metcalfe rode Jackson's coattails into office by a slim margin. The voters of the state did not elect Metcalfe's running mate, however, and his lieutenant governor, John Breathitt, was from the Jacksonian Democratic party.

While in office, Metcalfe's main concern was internal improvements. The establishment and repair of roads, canals, and railways dominated his administration and is visible in the number of internal improvement bills passed by the legislature during Metcalfe's four years in office despite the opposition of President Jackson to providing government money for improvements. Another issue of importance during Metcalfe's administration was education, since he wanted to improve the quality of common school education in Kentucky. While his concern was genuine, no action of any consequence concerning education occurred during his administration. He did call for reports on the state of the educational system, which eventually showed that only one-third of the state's children were in any kind of school, but the only bill that resulted from these reports was amended to make county participation nonobligatory, thus destroying any chance of bettering the school system.

Other major issues during Metcalfe's term concerned passage by the United States Congress of the 1828 tariff, known as the Tariff of Abominations, and South Carolina's nullification threat; the abolition of the branch banks of the Bank of the Commonwealth; prison reform; and Kentucky's support for the American Colonization Society.

Metcalfe's term in office ended in 1832. He then served as a state senator from 1834 to 1838 and was elected president of the State Board of Internal Improvements in 1840, a position which he held until 1848. In 1848 he was appointed to the United States Senate to complete the term of John J. Crittenden. While in the Senate, he denounced secession and declared that Kentucky would always uphold the Union.

Following his service in the Senate, Metcalfe retired to his Nicholas County farm, Forest Retreat. Metcalfe died of cholera on August 18, 1855, and was buried in the family graveyard.