Salmon Portland Chase

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Chief Justice of the United States from 1864 to 1873

Not to be confused with Samuel Chase .

Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808 – May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States from 1864 to his death in 1873. Earlier, he had served as the 25th United States Secretary of the Treasury in the Abraham Lincoln administration from 1861 to 1864, during the American Civil War . Chase also served as the 23rd Governor of Ohio from 1856 to 1860, and represented Ohio in the United States Senate from 1849 to 1855 and again in 1861. Chase is therefore one of the few American politicians who have held constitutional office in all three branches of the federal government, in addition to serving in the highest state-level office. From the 1850s onward, even as Chief Justice, Chase unsuccessfully sought a presidential nomination.

Born in Cornish, New Hampshire , Chase studied law under Attorney General William Wirt before establishing a legal practice in Cincinnati . He became an anti-slavery activist and frequently defended fugitive slaves in court. Chase left the Whig Party in 1841 to become the leader of Ohio's Liberty Party . In 1848, he helped establish the Free Soil Party and recruited former President Martin Van Buren to serve as the party's presidential nominee. Chase won election to the Senate the following year, and he opposed the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas–Nebraska Act . In the aftermath of the Kansas–Nebraska Act, Chase helped establish the Republican Party , which opposed the extension of slavery into the territories . After leaving the Senate, Chase served as the first Republican governor of Ohio from 1856 to 1860.

Chase sought the Republican nomination for president in the 1860 presidential election , but the party chose Abraham Lincoln at its National Convention . After Lincoln won the election, he asked Chase to serve as Secretary of the Treasury. Chase served in that position from 1861 to 1864, working hard to ensure the Union was well-financed during the Civil War .

Chase resigned from the Cabinet in June 1864, but retained support among the Radical Republicans and unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination again for the 1864 election . Partly to appease the Radical Republicans, Lincoln nominated Chase to fill the Supreme Court vacancy that arose following Roger Taney 's death.

Chase served as Chief Justice from 1864 to his death in 1873. He presided over the Senate trial of President Andrew Johnson during the impeachment proceedings of 1868. Despite his nomination to the court, Chase continued to pursue the presidency. He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in and the Liberal Republican nomination in .

Early life and family

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Salmon_P._Chase&action=edit&section=1 "Edit section: Early life and family")
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The Salmon P. Chase Birthplace in Cornish, New Hampshire

Salmon Portland Chase was born in Cornish , New Hampshire , on January 13, 1808, to Janette Ralston and Ithamar Chase, who died in 1817 when Salmon was nine years old. His paternal immigrant ancestor was Aquila Chase from Cornwall , England, a ship-master who settled in Newbury, Massachusetts , about 1640, while his maternal grandparents Alexander Ralston and Janette Balloch were Scottish , originally from Falkirk .

His mother was left with ten children and few resources, and so Salmon lived from 1820 to 1824 in Ohio with his uncle, Bishop Philander Chase , a leading figure in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the West and the founder of Kenyon College . U.S. Senator Dudley Chase of Vermont was another uncle.

He studied in the common schools of Windsor, Vermont , and Worthington, Ohio , and at Cincinnati College before entering the junior class at Dartmouth College . He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa

and graduated from Dartmouth with distinction in 1826. Later in life, he became a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, through his law partner Samuel Eells . While at Dartmouth, he taught at the Royalton Academy in [Royalton, Vermont](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royalton

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