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Salmon P Chase Article Salmon Portland Chase: Lincoln’s Able Financier Article by David L. Mowery March 14, 2004 Copyright © 2007 by David L. Mowery and the Cincinnati Civil War Round Table Salmon Portland Chase (1808-1873) [Photo courtesy of the National Archives, negative #111-B-2886.] Salmon Portland Chase, renowned American lawyer and statesman, was born to Ithamar and Janette Ralston Chase at Cornish, New Hampshire, on January 13, 1808.1 In 1820, Salmon was sent to Ohio to live with his uncle, Philander Chase. While residing in Ohio, Salmon attended Cincinnati College from 1822 to 1823.2 He returned to New Hampshire and was admitted to Dartmouth (N.H.) College in 1824, from which he graduated in 1826.3 He studied law under U.S. Attorney General William Wirt in Washington, D.C., from 1827-1829, and on December 14, 1829, Salmon was admitted to the Maryland bar.4 Though he had the prestigious opportunity to practice law in Washington, Chase knew that he had a greater chance to make his mark if he were to move back to Ohio. He moved to Cincinnati in March 1830 and was admitted to the Ohio bar in June of that year.5 In September 1830, Salmon P. Chase established his first law practice in a brick building that stood at the northeast corner of 3rd Street and Main Street in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Chase rented the first floor of the building at $6.00 a month, and he partitioned the space such that the front portion served as his law office, while the back portion became his temporary living quarters. Chase formed several law partnerships here, and he accepted students into his firm; George Hoadly, the Governor of Ohio from 1 of 7 1884 to1885, studied law in this office from 1846 to1847 and became a partner in Chase’s firm in 1847. Chase would maintain his law office on the north side of East 3rd Street, between Sycamore and Main Streets, until 1858, when he placed his portion of the practice under the care of his law partners, Flamen Ball and Ralston Skinner.6 In 1833, Chase published a new edition of the Statutes of Ohio, which later became known as “Chase’s Statutes.” This work earned him recognition among attorneys nationwide.7 However, Salmon Chase would make his name known to the American public as an anti-slavery advocate by defending runaway slaves and Underground Railroad conductors who had violated the Fugitive Slave Act. Chase was not only an abolitionist, but also a firm believer of equal rights for African Americans. His stubborn defense of African Americans and their supporters earned him the national nickname of “Attorney General of Fugitive Slaves.” Among the most famous cases in which he defended the anti-slavery cause were the Matilda case (1837), Ohio vs. Birney (1837), and Wharton Jones vs. Van Zandt (1842-1847).8 Realizing the fruitless nature of trying to attack the Fugitive Slave Law head-on, Chase decided the only way to truly free African Americans was to change the law through political reform. He would therefore carry his abolitionist views into Ohio politics. His first venture into politics was as a Whig on the Cincinnati City Council from 1840 to 1841.9 In 1841, Chase abandoned the Whig Party and became the most significant participant in organizing the Liberty Party, the first nationwide anti-slavery political group.10 As a result of his work in 1848 in framing the Free-Soil platform and in obtaining Liberty party backing, Chase became a leader within the Free-Soil Party, the forerunner of the Republican Party. By this time, he had emerged as the political leader of the abolitionists in Ohio.11 He was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Free-Soil Democrat from Ohio in 1849, and he held this seat until 1855.12 He helped organize and promote the first Republican Party national convention in 1856. He then served as Ohio’s first Republican Governor from 1856-1860.13 In 1860, Chase was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate, but he resigned his seat on March 6, 1861, to accept the appointment of Secretary of the Treasury offered by President Abraham Lincoln.14 Salmon P. Chase earned his place in history through his untiring efforts to fund the Federal government during the Civil War. Although Chase had no professional background in finance, he performed his duties as Secretary of the Treasury with competence and political savvy.15 Faced with the daunting task of supplying funds for the Union war effort, Chase successfully promoted several innovative ideas for raising revenue. He introduced the nation’s first federal tax on income, and he created the Bureau of Internal Revenue (later renamed the Internal Revenue Service) to collect stamp taxes, internal duties, and income taxes.16 Chase also introduced the nation’s first system of federal paper currency, nicknamed “greenbacks,” and established the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to produce them. To manage this new government currency, he created a national banking system that existed until the formation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913. Many of Chase’s original concepts were incorporated into the Federal Reserve Bank system and are still is use today. In addition, Chase opened the U.S. bond market to the general public for the first time in the nation’s history.17 2 of 7 Chase’s fatal flaw was his raging ambition to be the next President of the United States, and it finally caught up with him. Recognizing Lincoln’s unpopularity among many Northerners, Chase saw the coming Presidential Election of 1864 as his opportunity to gain the position he had sought nearly all of his life. He secretly began courting U.S. senators and congressmen for support, and he started a low-key campaign to win the 1864 Republican nomination. However, the word spread, and finally it became public. On February 22, 1864, the Washington press printed the Pomeroy Circular, a letter written by Kansas Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy in which he flamed President Lincoln’s leadership and promoted Salmon Chase as the best candidate for the executive office. Chase was mortified. Immediately following the scandal ignited by the Pomeroy Circular, Chase tendered his resignation as Secretary of the Treasury. Initially Lincoln refused the resignation, indicating that Senator Pomeroy was responsible for the letter, not Chase. Thoroughly embarrassed by the ordeal, and shunned by many within the Republican Party, Chase gave up his attempt at the presidency on March 5. He continued to ask Lincoln to accept his resignation, and at last President Lincoln accepted the plea on June 30, 1864.18 However, when Chief Justice Roger B. Taney died in late 1864, President Lincoln appointed Salmon Chase to be Taney’s successor. Ironically, Roger B. Taney had been famous for upholding the Fugitive Slave Act during the Dred Scott case. Chase accepted Lincoln’s appointment and was sworn in as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in December 1864.19 As Supreme Court Chief Justice during the Reconstruction period, Chase avidly supported universal suffrage and equal legal rights for all citizens, and his court declared that secession was unconstitutional.20 He also presided over the Senate impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868. This potentially divisive event was the first in United States history, but Chase’s clear adherence to the Constitution kept the trial from getting out of hand. His remarkable efforts set the tone for the procedures to be used at all future presidential impeachments.21 Salmon P. Chase died in New York City on May 7, 1873. He was first buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C. In 1886 his body was re-interred in Spring Grove Cemetery (Sec. 30, Lots 10 and 11) in Cincinnati, Ohio. 22 He rests in Spring Grove Cemetery today alongside his brother, his three wives, and five of his children, including daughter Kate Chase Sprague (1840-1899), a famous Washington socialite of the Civil War era.23 On March 25, 2004, during a ceremony held at the Cincinnati Public Library, an Ohio Bicentennial Historical Marker was dedicated in Salmon Chase’s honor. The Hamilton County Coordinator for the Ohio Civil War Trail Commission [the author] researched and wrote the text for the sign and applied to the Ohio Historical Society for the marker. It was funded by the Ohio Bicentennial Commission through the generosity of a corporate grant from The Scotts Company, which was founded by a Civil War veteran. The Salmon Portland Chase marker was placed at its permanent location directly across 3rd Street from the site where in September 1830, Chase established his first law office in a brick building that stood at the northeast corner of 3rd Street and Main Street in 3 of 7 downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Chase gained national fame from this law office, which he used until 1858. In an indirect way, his office in Cincinnati can claim to be the birthplace of the Republican Party in Ohio. Although he had been born in New Hampshire and had died in New York City, Salmon Chase always considered Cincinnati his home. It is fitting that Ohio recognized this influential American as part of its state bicentennial commemoration. Salmon Portland Chase historical marker at 3rd & Main Street in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. The building in the back- ground was constructed in 1870 on the site of Chase’s law office, where he maintained his practice from 1830 to 1858. [Photo courtesy of the author.] 4 of 7 1 John Niven, Salmon P. Chase: A Biography (New York, 1995), p.
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