several occasions, and some students attempted to injure him by dropping heavy roof timbers onto him as he exited a building. Kendall would have left Dartmouth if not for the support of the members of the Gymnasion Adelphon. He later admitted that he learned a valuable lesson from the experience: Never attempt to impose his moral values on others. In July 1809 he joined the Handel Society, and regularly participated in their productions. He taught again in Ipswich from November 1809 to February 1810 to earn money for college. Returning to Dartmouth in the spring of 1810, Kendall's social standing at school improved. He participated in a prank in which the cattle of the townspeople were herded into a basement room at the college. When several students were brought up on charges, Kendall defended them so ably that the charges were dropped. Kendall, like most people from Dunstable, was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party. But most students at Dartmouth belonged to the Federalist Party. When asked to provide an oration at the Independence Day celebrations in 1810, he declined by arguing that the Federalists were taking over the event. When he was embraced by the radical Democratic-Republicans, he refused their support by announcing that he found them too "Frenchified" (e.g., too supportive of Napoleonic France and not patriotic enough). His determination to stand his ground but not embrace radicalism won him a great deal of admiration. Kendall taught school again during winter term 1810–1811. Kendall returned to Dartmouth in March 1811. During his senior year, Kendall joined the Philoi Euphradias literary society, joined the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and was elected first in his class by his classmates. He graduated from Dartmouth at the top of his class on August 27, 1811. Legal education, the Clay children, and legal practice Legal education Shortly before graduation, Kendall traveled to Groton, Massachusetts, to seek a teaching position. He met with William M. Richardson, a prominent local attorney and friend of his father's. Richardson advised Kendall to abandon teaching and to study law. He became a legal apprentice in Richardson's legal practice on September 4, 1811. Since Richardson's current apprentice would not leave until March 1812, Kendall resolved to live in Groton. All able-bodied men were required to join the local militia, and Kendall did so eagerly since his father had been a militiaman. But musters left him physically exhausted for days,