Mr. Kelley was appointed State Fund Commissioner in 1840, a period of great financial embarrassment and distress. In 1841 and '42, a formidable party arose in the Legislature and in the State, which advocated the non-payment of the maturing interest upon the State debt, and the repudiation of the debt itself. This was a time which indeed tried the souls of men. Mr. Kelley went to New York, and such was the confidence reposed in his integrity and practical ability--notwithstanding the underhanded and atrocious means employed by the repudiators, to defeat his object--that he was enabled to raise in that city (where no one could be found willing to loan money to the sovereign State of Ohio) nearly a quarter of a million of dollars on his own personal security, and thus by his generous efforts, and by his alone, the interest was paid at maturity, and the State of Ohio was saved from repudiation. At the time that Mr. Kelley thus volunteered himself as security for the State, (an act which was done contrary to the advice of his friends,) such was the unenlightened state of public opinion, such the moral obtuseness of some, nay, many men in power, that the chances were a hundred to one that no effective measure would be adopted to save the public credit--none to indemnify him. In 1844, he was elected to the State Senate from the Franklin district. It was during this term that he originated the bill to organize the State Bank of Ohio, and other banking companies, which by general consent among bankers and financiers, was the best of American banking laws. His banking System was successfully in operation during the whole twenty years of its charter. Many of the most valuable provisions of the present National banking law were taken from Mr. Kelley's bill to "organize the State Bank of Ohio." Many of the provisions of this law were original and novel, and evinced deep thought and a profound knowledge of this department of political science. For several years, and during some of the most trying periods in the financial history of Ohio, and of the country, Mr. Kelley was a member of the Board of Control of the State Bank of Ohio; and part of the time was President of the Board. It was also during this Senatorial term that Mr. Kelley originated the present Revenue System of the State. The main principles of this Revenue or Tax law were subsequently incorporated in the new Constitution of Ohio. While Mr. Kelley was a member of the Legislature few valuable general laws can be found in the Statute books which did not originate with him, and most of the measures requiring laborious investigation and profound thought were entrusted to him. He was the author, in 1818, of the first Legislative bill--either in this country or in Europe--to abolish imprisonment for debt.