[1] The reforms enacted during Powell's term as governor gave Kentucky one of the top educational systems in the antebellum South.

Powell's predecessor, John J. Crittenden, was the last governor elected from the party of the Commonwealth's favorite son, Henry Clay.

Before he could assume office, President James Buchanan dispatched Powell and Major Benjamin McCulloch to Utah to ease tensions with Brigham Young and the Mormons.

Powell assumed his Senate seat on his return from Utah, just prior to the election of Abraham Lincoln as president.

Powell became an outspoken critic of Lincoln's administration, so much so that the Kentucky General Assembly asked for his resignation and some of his fellow senators tried to have him expelled from the body, though both groups later renounced their actions.

His paternal grandparents had migrated from Banbridge, Ulster in 1771[4] He attended the common schools of Henderson, and was tutored by George Gayle.

[5] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Saint Joseph College in Bardstown, Kentucky in 1833,[6] and began studying law under John Rowan.

[7] He then enrolled in the Transylvania University School of Law, studying under Justice George Robertson and Judge Daniel Mayes.

[5] A Democrat in a Whig district, Powell's political career began with an 1836 bid for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives.

[13] The Whig party nominated Senator John J. Crittenden, and the race was complicated by former Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson's announcement that he would run as an independent Democratic candidate.

Powell and Dixon traveled the state together, eating at the same taverns, speaking from the same platforms, and generally showing cordiality and friendliness that was rare in Kentucky politics in those days.

)[5] The Whigs also maintained control of the General Assembly, and although Governor Powell was largely able to cooperate with his political opponents, some clashes did occur.

Powell vetoed the redistricting, noting that the districts had been gerrymandered to give the fading Whig party control over the state delegation.

[5] In April of that year, President James Buchanan appointed Powell and Major Benjamin McCulloch commissioners to negotiate settlements with the Mormons in Utah.

[5] On arriving in Utah, Powell and McCulloch issued a proclamation by President Buchanan offering clemency to Mormons who agreed to submit to Federal authority.

[18] Senator Powell favored Kentucky's neutrality policy during the Civil War,[16] but nationally, the conflict put him in a tenuous political situation.