Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/127

 DALLAS

DALLAS

pated in the formation of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania under the constitution of 1790: was secretary of the commonwealth by appoint- ment of Governor Mifflin, 1790-99, and while holding the office he edited the laws of the state with notes. .In 1794 he assisted in suppressing

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the whiskey insurrection in western Pennsyl- vania as an aide-de-camp to Governor Mifflin, holding rank in the militia of paymaster-general. He made an elaborate report of the campaign to the legislature. He helped to organize and drafted the constitution of the Democratic society of Pennsylvania in 1793. He penned the memorial addressed to George Washington, Pres- ident of the United States, and signed b}- fourteen distinguished citizens of Pennsjlvania, giving their reasons for asking for his disapproval of the treaty between Lord Grenville and Mr. Jaj-, July, 1795. In 1798-99, with Jared IngersoU. he successfully defended Senator William Blount of Tennessee in his trial for impeachment. On the accession of Jefferson to the presidency in 1801, Secretary Dallas was appointed district attorney for the eastern district of Pennsylvania and held the offlce until called by President Madison in October, 1814, to the cabinet office of secretary of the treasury, which he had pi-eviously declined as well as the attorney-generalship offered him in February of the same year; He proposed to congress the establishment of a government bank, through which to raise the money neces- sary to meet the expenses incurred in the war with Great Britain. Congress acted on his sug- gestion and passed an act authorizing the bank, Jan. 20, 1815, but President Madison vetoed the bill. Secretary Dallas continued to advocate the bank and the issue of treasury notes to meet the emergency of the times, and on April 3, 1816, congress passed a bill incorporating the United States bank Math a capital of §35,000,000, and with twenty-five directors, five to be appointed by the government, and the President signed the bill. Treasury notes became popular and soon commanded par, and the ci'edit of the govern- ment was re-established. He discharged the

duties of .secretary of war from March 15, 1815, in addition to his duties in the treasury depart- ment, and during the time he reduced the army to a peace footing and provided in the budget for deserving officers who had rendered conspicuous service during the war. He resigned his port- folio in 1816 and was succeeded by William H. Crawford, Oct. 20, 1816. He declined the nomi- nation as Democratic representative in the l")di congress, as his service in the cabinet had impoverished him, the small salary attached to a cabinet office not meeting his family expenses, and he found it necessary to devote himself to the practice of law. Three sons survived him: the eldest, Alexander James, attained the highest rank in the United States navy ; George Mifflin, the second son, was vice-president of the United States, and the youngest son, Trevanion, became a judge. Of his daughters, Sophia married Richard Baclie, the grandson of Benjamin Franklin ; and Matilda married William Wilkins, the colleague of George Mifflin Dallas in the United States senate. He was a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, 1794—1817. He pub- lished: Features of Jay's Treaty (1795); Eeports of Cases Buled and Adjudged by the Courts of the United States and of Pennsylvania before and since the Revohition (4 vols., 1790-1807, rev. ed., 1830); 77ie Laws of Pennsylvania from 1700 to 1801 (1801) ; Speeches on the Trial of Blount ; Addresses to the Society of Constitutional Bepublicans (1805) ; and Exposition of the Causes and Character of the War of 1812-15. He left in MS. a history of Pennsylvania. See Life and Writings of A. J. Dallas, by his son, George Mifflin Dallas (1871), He died in Trenton, N.J., Jan. 16, 1817.

DALLAS, Alexander James, naval officer, was born in Pliiladelphia, Pa., May 15, 1791; son of the Hon. Alexander James and Arabella Maria (Smith) Dallas. He was given a liberal classical education and left school to accept the appoint- ment of midshipman in the U.S. navy, liis warrant bearing date, Nov. 23, 1805. He was appointed act- ing-lieutenant, March 20, 1810, when nine- teen years old, and Avas ordered to the President, John Rodg- ers, commander. In the action with the British man-of-war Little Belt in May, 1811, he commanded the gun division on board the President and fired the first gun in response

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