Salmon P. Chase
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Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court during most of the Civil War.
Salmon Portland Chase was born in New Hampshire to a prominent family
whose roots were established in the early colonial period. Chase went
to Dartmouth College and then studied law under Attorney General
William Wirt. He moved to Cincinnati where he established his law
practice.
Chase was deeply involved in the antislavery movement. He would
frequently defend runaway slaves in court when owners sought return
of their slaves under fugitive slave laws. Chase's antislavery
positions quickly drew him into politics. The Ohio legislature
elected him to represent their state in the U.S. Senate in 1948.
Chase was elected governor of Ohio in 1855 and was reelected in 1857.
He was returned to the Senate in 1861 but resigned two days after his
election to take a position in Lincoln's cabinet as Secretary of the
Treasury.
Chase and Lincoln disagreed frequently, and Chase twice submitted his
resignation. Lincoln reluctantly accepted it the second time in 1864
but he still held Chase in high esteem. Lincoln nominated him to fill
the vacancy created by the death of Chief Justice Roger Taney.
Chase was deeply involved in politics before and after his
appointment to the High Court. He presided over the impeachment trial
of President Andrew Johnson in the Senate. In 1868 and 1872, Chase
made a private and ultimately unsuccessful bid to secure his
presidential nomination.
