He rose to prominence as editor-in-chief of the Argus of Western America, an influential newspaper in Frankfort, the capital of the U.S. state of Kentucky.

The farm primarily raised sheep and dairy cattle and provided pasture for the family horses and oxen (which were used for plowing fields).

Amos also assisted in clearing rocks from the farmland (which was extremely rocky and full of clay), and mending stone and split-rail fences.

[16] Unable to afford the $80 to $90 cost of the fall and winter term, his father Zebedee obtained another teaching position for Amos at a school in Dunstable.

Away from his father's control for an extended period of time, Kendall began to play cards, dance, and occasionally drink alcohol.

Through the college's and society's libraries, he had access to more than 4,000 books (a huge number by the standards of the day), many of which were by recent authors and in fields which he had been unable to study while under his father's strict moral supervision.

[19] Kendall spent the fall and winter terms of 1808 teaching in New Ipswich and began attending classes again at Dartmouth in March 1809.

He was bullied and nearly assaulted on several occasions, and some students attempted to injure him by dropping heavy roof timbers onto him as he exited a building.

[35] Other sources, however, claim that Bledsoe's family had not been told of the senator's decision to hire Kendall as a tutor and refused to allow him in the home.

On April 27,[37] Kendall met John Watkins, the younger half-brother of Henry Clay, the powerful Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Mrs. Clay offered Kendall room, board, use of her husband's extensive library, and $300 a year (nearly three times as much as Bledsoe had promised).

Twelve-year-old Theodore exhibited violent rages and threatened the life of a slave with a knife, which foreshadowed the insanity which claimed him in 1833.

But Kendall's influence slowly exerted itself, and all the school-age Clay children began to show improvement in their studies and behavior.

[40][41] Additionally, Mrs. Clay taught Kendall many of the social skills his upbringing had not: How to walk with confidence, enter a room with flair, make small talk, and dance better.

[42] Although Kendall was shy and socially awkward, he began to impress acquaintances with his education, intellect, and penchant for reading and writing poetry.

[43] Determined to avoid teaching as a long-term career option, Kendall applied for a license to practice law in Kentucky.

But Barry and Wickliffe both appeared at midday and spoke privately with the judge examiners, and Kendall was granted his license that afternoon.

[49] Johnson was deeply impressed with Kendall's writing, and offered to sell him the local Democratic-Republican newspaper, Georgetown Minerva.

[59] Along with men such as Blair, Duff Green, Isaac Hill, and William Berkeley Lewis, Kendall was a member of Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet.

[59] Kendall also drafted most of Jackson's five annual messages to Congress, and his statement vetoing the renewal of the charter of the Second Bank of the United States in 1832.

[36] He also manipulated operations of the Post Office Department so that western newspapers (which tended to support Jackson) were delivered faster and received better service than eastern ones.

[61] John Quincy Adams, a bitter foe of both Jackson and Van Buren, confided to his diary in December 1840 that he believed both men had been "for twelve years the tool of Amos Kendall, the ruling mind of their dominion.

"[62] Kendall wrote extensively for the Washington Extra Globe newspaper in the summer and fall of 1840 in an unsuccessful effort to boost Van Buren's chances for re-election.

[59] Throughout the 1840s, Kendall was the subject of numerous lawsuits from postal contractors who sued him for damages over his manipulation of Post Office operations.

Kendall helped to prove the independence of the Western Cherokee from the Old Nation, which gave them control over their lands and a portion of a $5 million settlement.

In 1865 Congress appropriated money for the purchase of 14 acres (57,000 m2) of Kendall Green to form the grounds of the new college and permit construction of new instructional buildings.

As his wife was preparing to move the household into the William Stickney mansion at 6th and M Streets NW, Kendall resided at the home of his son-in-law Robert C. Fox.

The scholarship existed so long as a member of Calvary Baptist Church continued to sit on the university's board of trustees.

During a trip to Vermont to see relatives in September 1809, he worshiped at a Christian Church and was amazed to see that their religious services not only involved women but were emotionally charged.

[24] While living in Groton in the fall of 1811, he rejected Roman Catholicism and Unitarianism but was strongly attracted to the revivalist preaching of Congregational minister Edward Dodge Griffin.