Federal Banking System

Only Webster can compare with Salmon P. Chase 1826 as Dartmouth's most brilliant statesman and political insider. Chase began his legal career as a defender of fugitive slaves (and an advocate for women's suffrage), became a U.S. Senator, Ohio governor, Lincoln's secretary of the treasury, and the sixth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

It was in Lincoln's Cabinet that Chase earned a future spot on the $10,000 bill. The architect of a strong federal banking system, he devised the means for the Union to fund the Civil War. Under Chase's system, nationally chartered banks were required to back their notes with government securities. Not since the days of Andrew Jackson had anyone attempted such a direct government role in the nation's money supply.

His stint in the Cabinet was not a complete triumph, however. Having made his own unsuccessful bid for the White House only to be defeated for the Republican nomination by Abraham Lincoln Chase accepted the Treasury post in hope of becoming the "First Friend." It was not to be. Lincoln (not without justice) thought the stern-browed Yankee lacked a sense of humor.

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Chase tries to capture thRepublican Presidentialnomination in this cartocby Thomas Nast.