Salmon Portland Chase
U. S. Senator, Ohio, 1849-1855
Governor, Ohio, 1855-1859
U. S. Senator, Ohio, 1861
U. S. Secretary of the Treasury, 1861-1864
U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, 1864-1873
Born: January 13, 1808, Cornish, New Hampshire.
Died: May 7, 1873, New York City, New York.
- Attended schools at Windsor, New Hampshire; Worthington, Ohio; and the Cincinnati (Ohio) College.
- Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, graduate, 1826.
- Taught school.
- Studied law in Washington, D. C., was admitted to the bar in 1829.
- Commenced law practice in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1830.
- Elected as a Whig to the Cincinnati City Council, 1840.
- Identified himself in 1841 with the Liberty Party, and was a participant in its national conventions at Buffalo, New York, 1843, and at Cincinnati, Ohio, 1847.
- Member of the Free-Soil National Convention at Buffalo , New York, 1848, which nominated Van Buren for U. S. President.
- Elected from Ohio to the U. S. Senate by a fusion of Democrats and Free-Soilers, serving from March 4, 1849 - March 3, 1855.
- Elected Governor of Ohio, 1855, as a Free-Soil Democrat.
- Re-elected, 1857, as a Republican.
- Elected from Ohio to the U. S. Senate, 1860.
- Took his seat March 4, 1861, but resigned two days later to become U. S. Secretary of the Treasury under U. S. President Lincoln, which position he held until July 1, 1864, when he resigned.
- Member of the Peace Convention, 1861, held in Washington, D. C., in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war.
- Appointed Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, December 6, 1864.
- Member of the National Peace Convention, 1868.
- Presided at the impeachment trial of U. S. President Johnson, 1868.
Buried: Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D. C.
Reinterment: Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio.
(Source: U.S. Congress. House. Biographical Directory Of The American Congress 1774-1949, 85th Cong., 2nd sess., H. Doc. 607 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950), pp. 759-2057.)