Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/193

 CHASE.

CHASE.

are therefore resolved to use all constitutional and honorable means to effect the extinction of slavery within the respective states, and its reduction to its constitutional limits in the United States" was led by Mr. Chase, and was intended to invite rep- resentation only from the southern and western states. It met in Cincinnati in June, 1845, and the address, urging the necessity of a political organization determined upon the overthrow of the slave power, was prepared by Mr. Chase, as chairman of the committee on platform. The second Liberty national convention was held in 1847, and in it Mr. Chase opposed making a ticket, and advised waiting to see how the Wilmot pro- viso would affect the political parties and the action of Congress. In 1848 he prepared a call for a free territory state convention at Columbus, Ohio, which was signed by over three thousand voters. This resulted in the national convention at Buffalo, N.Y., in August, 1848, over which Mr. Chase presided, and which nominated the Free- Soil ticket. Van Buren and Adams. Mr. Chase was the next year elected by the Democrats and Federal Whigs, as United States senator. In 1852, when the Democratic national convention at Baltimore nominated Franklin Fierce and de- nounced the agitation of the slavery question, and the ticket and platform were upheld by the Democrats of Ohio, Mr. Chase withdrew from the party, and prepared the platform for an indepen- dent party, which was adopted by the Pittsburgh convention of 1852. He opposed the Clay com- promise in a speech in the ssnate; and his amend- ment providing against the introduction of slavery in the territories, to which the bill applied, re- ceived twenty-five votes, while thirty voted against the amendment. He also offered an amendjuent to tha fugitive slave bill, by which so-called fugi- tive slaves should be accorded trial by jury, and another granting immunity to slaves escaping from states to territories, or the reverse, thus con- forming the act to the provisions of the constitu- tion, both of which were defeated. When the Nebraska bill was introduced in 1854, he drew up and caused to be circulated an appeal to the people to oppose the measure, and in the senate on February 3 made a speech in which he elaborated the objectionable features of the bill. On the very night of its passage he made an earnest pro- test against the measure. His efforts in the senate were directed to the confining of the question of slavery within its constitutional limits, to securing non-intervention on the part of the Federal gov- ernment in the affairs of the states and territories, to upholding the individual rights of persons and states, and to securing economy in the administra- tion of financial affairs. He favored free home- steads to actual settlers, cheap postage, govern- ment aid towards the construction of the Pacific

railroad, and liberal appropriations for harbor and river improvements. The opponents of the Nebraska bill and of the administration nominated Mr. Chase for governor of Ohio in July, 1855, and he was elected. His policy, as outlined in his in- augural address, was economy in the adminis- tration of state affairs, annual sessions of the legislature, and Uberal support to schools. At the RepubUcan national convention of 1856 a majority of the Ohio delegates, backed by a large following from other states, proposed his name as a presidential candidate, but at his personal re- quest- it was withdrawn. In 1857 he was again a candidate for governor, and received the largest vote ever given to a candidate for that office in Ohio. When the Republican national convention met at Chicago in 1860, Ohio presented Mr. Chase as a candidate, and in the first ballot he received forty-nine votes; but when the votes of Ohio were needed to secure Mr. Lincoln's nomination they were promptly furnished. In the same year lie was elected to a seat in the United States senate, and resigned it to accept the portfolio of the treasury in the cabinet of President Lincoln. The treasury was in need of money, and the secretary asked for $8,000,000, April 2, 1861, of which amount §3,099.000 was tendered at or under six per cent. He refused all bids at higher rates than six per cent and placed the balance in two- year treasury notes at par or over. When Fort Sumter was first fired upon, the secretary went to New York and obtained $50,000,000 from the banks in exchange for treasury notes payable in coin, and soon after obtained $100,000,000 more from the same source. The bankers could not sell the bonds for coin, and on Dec. 27, 1861, the agreement to suspend specie payment was entered into. When the resources of the banks were found inadequate to supply the secretary's demand for money, he, largely through the sug- gestion of Mr. O. B. Potter of New York, issued • ' the greenback," which was made legal tender by act of Congress, for all purposes except custom duties; these treasury notes, running for various lengths of time, and bearing interest at from six to seven and three tenths per cent jjayable in coin, were readily taken by the people and the loan became very popular. This popular loan was followed by the national banking system, a part of the original plan of Mr. Potter. Tliese financial measures enabled the government to pro.secute the war, and furnished a stable cur- rency. When Mr. Chase left the treasury de- partment, June 30, 1804, the national debt amounted to §1,740,090,489. On Dec. 6, 1864, President Lincoln named Mr. Chase as chiaf jus- tice of the U. S. supreme court, to succeed Jus- tice Taney deceased, and liis nomination was im- mediately confirmed by the senate. In the