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Salmon P. Chase Salmon Portland Chase, now Chief Justice of the United
States, was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, January 13, 1808. His
father having died, he was sent, at the age of twelve, to Ohio,
and placed under the care of his uncle, Bishop Chase. After studying
for a year at Cincinnati College he entered Dartmouth College, in
New Hampshire, from which he graduated in 1829. He went to Washington,
where he opened a school, at the same time studying law under the
direction of William Wirt. Having been admitted to the bar, he went
to Cincinnati, and entered upon the practice of his profession.
To this for some years he applied himself exclusively, taking no
prominent part in politics, though he belonged to the Democratic
party. In 1841 he first took a decided part in politics. He was
then a member of the Convention of those opposed to the farther
extension of slavery, and was the author of the address unanimously
adopted by that body. He took a prominent part in all the subsequent
movements having this end in view, and was president of the Free
Soil Democratic Convention at Buffalo in 1848. The Democratic party
in Ohio had at this time assumed the position of hospitality to
slavery in the Territories. Mr. Chase was chosen United States senator
in February, 1849, receiving the votes of all the Democratic members
of the Legislature, together with those of others who were in favor
of free soil. Though elected as a Democrat, he declared that if
the party withdrew from its position in regard to slavery, he should
withdraw from it. This he did formally, in consequence of the action
of the Democratic Convention held at Baltimore in 1852. When the
Republican party was organized, Mr. Chase took the position of one
of its acknowledged leaders. Soon after the close of his senatorial
term in 1855 he was elected Governor of Ohio. He was re-elected,
his second term closing in 1860. In the Republican Convention at
Chicago in that year he was next, after Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward,
the leading candidate for the presidency. He had in the mean time
been again elected to the Senate of the United States, and, had
he taken his place, would undoubtedly have been the leader in that
body. But he resigned hi seat in order to accept the position of
Secretary of the Treasury—a position for which he was especially
pointed out by the success of his financial policy while Governor
of Ohio. It is honorable to all the persons that the three leading
competitors of Mr. Lincoln for the presidential nomination should
have received and accepted his nomination as members of his cabinet.
As the presidential canvass of 1864 approached, a strong effort
was made to bring forth Mr. Chase as the Union candidate; but the
current of popular feeling was so unmistakably in favor of the re-election
of Mr. Lincoln that Mr. Chase refused to become a candidate, and
gave his cordial support to Mr. Lincoln. Meanwhile, finding that
Congress hesitated to carry out the financial system which he proposed,
Mr. Chase had, on the 30th of June, 1864, resigned the post of Secretary
of the Treasury. Almost the first important public act of Mr. Lincoln
after his re-election was to appoint Mr. Chase to the most important
position within the executive nomination. Mr. Chase entered upon
the duties of his high office at the age of fifty-six, with a sound
legal reputation, and with a physical vigor which gives reason to
hope that he may be able to perform its duties for a period as long
as that of his predecessor. |
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