Salmon P. Chase Defends His Conduct Against a Defamatory Newspaper Column, Days Before His Removal as Treasury Secretary

"There is One who knows with what fidelity I have endeavored to serve this Country; with what anxiety to know & to do what is best for the People..."

Washington, D.C., Treasury Department, June 26, 1864. One-page autograph letter on bifolium, signed by Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, to William Cullen Bryant, editor of the New York Evening Post. In part: "I enclose a couple of slips one for an editorial of the Evening Post...For good tempered practical criticism I am always grateful-and even from ill tempered I try to draw lessons. Such articles as that of the 'loyal private banker' belong to neither class. Made up of false or distorted statements of fact and gross imputation of dishonest and dishonorable motives...I think that under the circumstances I ought to know the name of the writer...There is One who knows with what fidelity I have endeavored to serve this Country; with what anxiety to know & to do what is best for the People & with what absolute disregard of personal & private consideration. With Him I dare trust my Cause." Docketed "Answered" at top, presumably by Bryant. Creasing from old folds; closed tear at center repaired with cello-tape on verso; scattered foxing. Lot includes a portrait engraving of Chase.

Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase (1808-1873) writes an impassioned defense of his conduct to American poet and newspaper editor, William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), days before being removed from his cabinet post by President Lincoln.

The article referenced, titled "Public Service" by a "loyal private banker", appeared in the June 24th issue of the New York Evening Post according to the Salmon P. Chase papers. Bryant, in his reply to this letter dated June 28, expressed extreme regret to Chase and assured him editor Parke Godwin would reply with the information requested.

Chase was a lawyer from Cincinnati who rose to national prominence for his defense of fugitive slaves, arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court in Jones v. Van Zandt (1847). While the court ruled against him, Chase argued that slavery was a product of state laws, and a fugitive who flees the state where he/she is held in bondage ceases to be a slave.

During the 1840s Chase was instrumental in the founding of the Liberty and Free-Soil Parties, both with anti-slavery platforms that were precursors to the Republican Party. He was elected to the Senate in 1849, where he was a vocal critic of the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In 1860 he sought the Republican Presidential nomination, but lost to Abraham Lincoln, and resigned his Senate seat in order to serve as Secretary of the Treasury. Although Chase had no prior financial experience, he proved to be an able pick to run the wartime Treasury Department. He oversaw the establishment of a national banking system that issued paper money, which won the approval of Congress, and provided a stable currency to fund the Union war effort.

Despite his performance, Chase and Lincoln had a tenuous relationship, as the Treasury Secretary harbored higher office ambitions which the President was well aware of. The two men often disputed over issues of patronage, and Chase threatened to resign his post multiple times in response to seemingly trivial matters. After he secured the Republican nomination in 1864, Lincoln no longer needed to keep Chase in his cabinet to forestall a possible challenge for the Presidency, and accepted his resignation on June 29, 1864, much to the Secretary's surprise. To placate Chase and his allies, Lincoln decided to name him instead to the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a role which he held until his death in 1872.