The most politically charged issue in Kentucky during Breckinridge's campaign, however, was the Old Court-New Court controversy. The Panic of 1819 had left many Kentuckians in dire financial straits. Legislators sought to relieve some of the financial burden by passing a law of replevin which favored debtors. The Kentucky Court of Appeals, (the highest court in the Commonwealth at the time,) declared the law unconstitutional. The next year, an incensed General Assembly passed legislation that dissolved the court and replaced it with a new court. Neither court acknowledged the other as valid, and a confused public lost respect for public authority in general. The issue was generally split along party lines, with Democrats generally favoring the New Court and Whigs favoring the Old Court.