Chase, Salmon Portland

Born January 13, 1808, in Cornish, NH
Died May 7, 1873, in New York, NY

Federal Judicial Service:
Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Nominated by Abraham Lincoln on December 6, 1864, to a seat vacated by Roger B. Taney. Confirmed by the Senate on December 6, 1864, and received commission on December 6, 1864. Service terminated on May 7, 1873, due to death.

Supreme Court Oath:
December 15, 1864

Allotment as Circuit Justice:

Fourth Circuit, January 17, 1865-May 7, 1873

Education:
Dartmouth College, B.A., 1826
Read law, 1829

Professional Career:

Private practice, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1829-1849
U.S. senator from Ohio, 1849-1855, 1861
Governor, Ohio, 1856-1860
Secretary of the Treasury, 1861-1864

Bibliography

Axtell, Matthew A. “What is Still ‘Radical’ in the Anti-Slavery Legal Practice of Salmon P. Chase?” Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal, vol. 11, no. 2 (Summer 2014): 269-320.

Barnett, Randy E. “From Anti-Slavery Lawyer to Chief Justice: The Remarkable but Forgotten Career of Salmon P. Chase.” Case Western Reserve Law Review, vol. 63, no. 3 (Spring 2013): 653-702.

Belden, Thomas Graham. “The Salmon P. Chase Family in the Civil War and Reconstruction: A Study in Ambition and Corruption.” Ph.D. Diss., University of Chicago, 1952.

Belz, Herman. “Deep-Conviction Jurisprudence and Texas v. White: A Comment of G. Edward White’s Historicist Interpretation of Chief Justice Chase.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 117-32.

________. “Salmon P. Chase and the Politics of Racial Reform.” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, vol. 17, no. 2 (Summer 1996): 22-40.

Benedict, Michael Les. “Salmon P. Chase as Jurist and Politician: Comment on G. Edward White, Reconstructing Chase’s Jurisprudence.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 133-50.

Billings, Roger D., Jr. “Salmon P. Chase and the Great Lincoln Biographers.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 225-34.

Blue, Frederick J. “From Left to Right: The Political Conversion of Salmon P. Chase.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 1-22.

________. Salmon P. Chase: A Life in Politics. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1987.

Bridges, Roger D. “Salmon P. Chase and the Legal Basis for the U.S. Monetary System.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 39, no. 4 (2012): 737-56.

Christenson, Gordon A. “A Tale of Two Lawyers in Antebellum Cincinnati: Timothy Walker’s Last Conversation with Salmon P. Chase.” University of Cincinnati Law Review, vol. 71, no. 2 (Winter 2003): 457-92.

Connally, C. Ellen. “The Use of the Fourteenth Amendment by Salmon P. Chase in the Trial of Jefferson Davis.” Akron Law Review, vol. 42, no. 4 (2009): 1165-200.

Court, Susan J. “An Uneasy Partnership: The Political Relationship between Salmon Chase and Abraham Lincoln.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 215-24.

Cutler, H.M. Tracy. “Salmon Portland Chase.” Chicago Law Times, vol. 1, no. 1 (Nov. 1886): 1-10.

Didier, Eugene L. “Personal Recollections of Chief-Justice Chase.” Green Bag, vol. 7, no. 7 (Jul. 1895): 313-7.

Dietz, James A. “Note: Personal Policy and Judicial Reasoning: Salmon P. Chase and Hepburn v. Griswold.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 235-52.

Dunne, Gerald T. “President Grant and Chief Justice Chase: A Footnote to the Legal Tender Cases.” Saint Louis University Law Journal, vol. 5, no. 4 (Fall 1959): 539-53.

England-Huff, Ashley. “Abraham Lincoln and Salmon P. Chase: Differing Backgrounds Predictive of Disparate Positions on Slavery.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 36, no. 2 (2009): 317-32.

Futch, Ovid L. “Salmon P. Chase and Civil War Politics in Florida.” Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 3 (Jan. 1954): 163-88.

Gerteis, Louis S. “Salmon P. Chase, Radicalism, and the Politics of Emancipation, 1861-1864.” Journal of American History, vol. 60, no. 1 (Jun. 1973): 42-62

Graves, Harmon Sheldon. “Chief Justice Chase.” Yale Law Journal, vol. 4, no. 1 (Oct. 1894-Jun. 1895): 27-31.

Gruber, Robert Henry. Salmon P. Chase and the Politics of Reform. Ph.D. Diss., University of Maryland, 1969.

Hughes, David Franklin. “Chief Justice Chase at the Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson.” New York State Bar Journal, vol. 41, no. 3 (Apr. 1969): 218-33.

________. Salmon P. Chase: Chief Justice. Ph.D. Diss., Princeton University, 1963.

________. “Salmon P. Chase: Chief Justice.” Vanderbilt Law Review, vol. 18, no. 2 (Mar. 1965): 569-614.

Hyman, Harold M. “Comment on Robert Kaczorowski’s Paper, the Chase Court and Fundamental Rights.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 193-202.

Jones, Francis R. “Salmon Portland Chase.” Green Bag, vol. 14, no. 4 (Apr. 1902): 155-65.

Jones, Michael E. “Five New Hampshire U.S. Supreme Court Justices: Woodbury, Clifford, Chase, Stone and Souter.” New Hampshire Bar Journal, vol. 33, no. 4 (Dec. 1992): 6-12.

Kaczorowski, Robert J. “The Chase Court and Fundamental Rights: A Watershed in American Constitutionalism.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 151-92.

Luthin, Reinhard H. “Salmon P. Chase’s Political Career before the Civil War.” Missouri Valley Historical Review, vol. xxix, no. 4 (March, 1943): 517-40.

Maizlish, Stephen E. “Salmon P. Chase: The Roots of Ambition and the Origins of Reform.” Journal of the Early Republic, vol. 18, no. 1 (Spring 1998): 47-70.

Middleton, Stephen. “Salmon Portland Chase: Reluctant Anti-Slavery Reformer; Comment on Frederick Blue’s From Right to Left.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 23-32.

Niven, John. Salmon P. Chase a Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Oakes, James. “Making Freedom National: Salmon P. Chase and the Abolition of Slavery.” Georgetown Journal of Law and Policy, vol. 13, no. 2 (Summer 2015): 407-22.

Perdue, M. Kathleen. “Salmon P. Chase and the Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson.” The Historian, vol. 27, no. 1 (Nov. 1964): 75-92.

Piatt, Donn. “Salmon P. Chase.” North American Review, vol. 143, no. 361 (Dec. 1886): 599-615.

Roseboom, Eugene H. “Salmon P. Chase and the Know Nothings.” Mississippi Valley Historical Review, vol. 25, no. 3 (Dec. 1938): 335-50.

Schecter, Lowell F. “A Comment on the Chase Court and Fundamental Rights.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 203-15.

Schuckers, J.W. The Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase, United States Senator and Governor of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury, and Chief Justice of the United States. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1874.

Steely, W. Frank. “Commentary on Presentation by Professor Frederick J. Blue on Chase and the Antislavery Movement.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 33-40.

White, G. Edward. “Reconstructing the Constitutional Jurisprudence of Salmon P. Chase.” Northern Kentucky Law Review, vol. 21, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 41-116.

Zornow, William Frank. “Lincoln, Chase, and the Ohio Radicals in 1864,” Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, vol. 9, no. 1 (Jan. 1951): 3-32.

“Salmon P. Chase.” Current Comment and Legal Miscellany, vol. 2, no. 12 (Dec. 15 1890): 705-23.

“Salmon Portland Chase.” Forum, vol. 3, no. 7 (Jul. 1875): 476-81.

“Salmon P. Chase.” National Law Review, vol. 1, no. 8 (Sep. 1888): 343-4.

Manuscript Collections

Cincinnati Historical Society
Cincinnati, Ohio
Salmon P. Chase correspondence, 1849-1873.
210 items; finding aid; political correspondence.

Cornell University
Ithaca, N.Y.
Salmon P. Chase letters, 1861-1872.
4 items; miscellaneous letters.

Dartmouth College
Hanover, N.H.
Salmon P. Chase letters, 1825-1873.
ca. 50 items; letters Chase wrote concerning religious life while a student at Dartmouth College; Ohio and national politics (1840-1868); the military government of Louisiana (1863-1864); and miscellaneous financial matters.

Harvard University
Cambridge, Mass.
Salmon P. Chase papers, 1823-1873.
14,500 items; finding aid; microfilm collection incorporating documents from numerous repositories.

Huntington Library
San Marino, Cal.
Letterpress book of the secretary of the treasury, 1863-1864.
1 vol.; contains telegrams sent and received by Chase as secretary of the treasury between June 1, 1863, and January 1, 1864.

Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
Salmon P. Chase papers, 1755-1898.
14.75 ft. (12,500 items); finding aid; correspondence, letter books, memoranda, notes, journals, diaries, account books, commonplace books, maps, a scrapbook, financial papers, and other material.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Springfield, Ill.
Salmon P. Chase letters, 1862-1871.
2 items; includes letter to General Burnside regarding a visit to Fort Monroe, Va., with Lincoln; the taking of Norfolk, Va., by federal troops; and the scuttling of the Merrimack.

Salmon P. Chase papers, 1855-1870.
8 items; 6 letters regarding Treasury Department matters and 2 maxims written and signed by Chase.

New York Public Library
New York, N.Y.
Salmon P. Chase papers, 1845-1873.
1 folder; correspondence, most dating from Chase's term as secretary of the treasury and concerning political matters, including Chase's support for the abolition of slavery.

Ohio Historical Society
Columbus, Ohio
Salmon P. Chase papers, 1825-1871.
ca. 2 ft.; finding aid; correspondence and papers chiefly from Chase's tenure as governor of Ohio.

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pa.
Salmon P. Chase papers, 1824-1881.
ca. 15,000 items; collection contains diaries, journals, correspondence, letter books, memoranda, speeches, lectures, legal opinions, official documents, biographical material, and other papers.

Wisconsin Historical Society
Madison, Wis.
Salmon P. Chase letters to Stanley Matthews, 1848-1865.
1 folder; letters concerning Chase's activities and observations on politics and government affairs in Cincinnati and Washington.

Federal Judicial Center

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Chase, Salmon Portland