Salmon Portland Chase  "The Man Who Wanted To Be President"  January 13, 1808 - May 7, 1873

Salmon Portland Chase, Lincoln's first secretary of the treasury (March 1861-July 1864), was very much an ambitious politician who wanted very much to become president, but never did. A lawyer from Ohio, Chase took an early outspoken stand against slavery in speeches and writings and as a lawyer for fugitive slaves.

He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1849 as a Democrat and served one term before entering the race for governor of Ohio under the banner of the new Republican party. He won that election, and was elected to a second term. Chase was a serious contender for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination, but his extreme antislavery viewpoints prevented his winning. The prize he so coveted went to the moderate candidate, Abraham Lincoln.

As secretary of the treasury, Chase took on the difficult task of finding  money for the general budget and for the demands of the war. With the aid of private financiers, his efforts were fairly successful, but he was finally forced to accept the use of "greenbacks", federal paper money backed by little more than the government's word.

Chase was a member of a small inner circle of Republicans who considered their own power base stronger than Lincoln's and did not hesitate to oppose him on issues of consequence. Chase especially thought the president was not moving fast enough to abolish slavery, and in 1862 he attempted to lead other radical Republicans in a coup against Lincoln. The president defused the attempt and a later effort by Chase to replace Lincoln on the 1864 ticket.

Although Lincoln had refused to acknowledge an earlier resignation by Chase, he accepted the secretary's letter of resignation submitted in 1864. To the surprise of many, after Roger B. Taney died in October 1864, Lincoln appointed Chase to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Fascinating Fact:  When Chief Justice Chase presided over the 1868 impeachment trial of Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, his support of Johnson angered his radical Republican friends in the Senate. As a result, Chase's name was put forward as a possible Democratic candidate in 1868.


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