 In 1819 , Rowan was appointed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals , serving until his resignation 1821 . He was again elected to the state legislature in 1823 . With the state reeling from the Panic of 1819 , Rowan became the leader of a group of legislators dedicated to enacting laws favorable to the state 's large debtor class . He believed the will of the people was sovereign and roundly denounced the Court of Appeals for striking down debt relief legislation as unconstitutional . He led the effort to impeach the offending justices , and when that effort failed , spearheaded a movement to abolish the court entirely and replace it with a new one , touching off the Old Court – New Court controversy . New Court partisans in the legislature elected Rowan to the U.S. Senate in 1824 . During his term , the nascent Whig Party ascended to power in the state legislature , and at the expiration of his term in 1831 , the Whigs replaced him with party founder Henry Clay . 
