CHASE.
CHASE.
are therefore resolved to use all constitutional and
honorable means to effect the extinction of slavery
within the respective states, and its reduction to
its constitutional limits in the United States" was
led by Mr. Chase, and was intended to invite rep-
resentation only from the southern and western
states. It met in Cincinnati in June, 1845, and
the address, urging the necessity of a political
organization determined upon the overthrow of
the slave power, was prepared by Mr. Chase, as
chairman of the committee on platform. The
second Liberty national convention was held in
1847, and in it Mr. Chase opposed making a ticket,
and advised waiting to see how the Wilmot pro-
viso would affect the political parties and the
action of Congress. In 1848 he prepared a call
for a free territory state convention at Columbus,
Ohio, which was signed by over three thousand
voters. This resulted in the national convention
at Buffalo, N.Y., in August, 1848, over which Mr.
Chase presided, and which nominated the Free-
Soil ticket. Van Buren and Adams. Mr. Chase
was the next year elected by the Democrats
and Federal Whigs, as United States senator. In
1852, when the Democratic national convention
at Baltimore nominated Franklin Fierce and de-
nounced the agitation of the slavery question,
and the ticket and platform were upheld by the
Democrats of Ohio, Mr. Chase withdrew from the
party, and prepared the platform for an indepen-
dent party, which was adopted by the Pittsburgh
convention of 1852. He opposed the Clay com-
promise in a speech in the ssnate; and his amend-
ment providing against the introduction of slavery
in the territories, to which the bill applied, re-
ceived twenty-five votes, while thirty voted against
the amendment. He also offered an amendjuent
to tha fugitive slave bill, by which so-called fugi-
tive slaves should be accorded trial by jury, and
another granting immunity to slaves escaping
from states to territories, or the reverse, thus con-
forming the act to the provisions of the constitu-
tion, both of which were defeated. When the
Nebraska bill was introduced in 1854, he drew up
and caused to be circulated an appeal to the
people to oppose the measure, and in the senate on
February 3 made a speech in which he elaborated
the objectionable features of the bill. On the
very night of its passage he made an earnest pro-
test against the measure. His efforts in the senate
were directed to the confining of the question of
slavery within its constitutional limits, to securing
non-intervention on the part of the Federal gov-
ernment in the affairs of the states and territories,
to upholding the individual rights of persons and
states, and to securing economy in the administra-
tion of financial affairs. He favored free home-
steads to actual settlers, cheap postage, govern-
ment aid towards the construction of the Pacific
railroad, and liberal appropriations for harbor
and river improvements. The opponents of the
Nebraska bill and of the administration nominated
Mr. Chase for governor of Ohio in July, 1855, and
he was elected. His policy, as outlined in his in-
augural address, was economy in the adminis-
tration of state affairs, annual sessions of the
legislature, and Uberal support to schools. At
the RepubUcan national convention of 1856 a
majority of the Ohio delegates, backed by a large
following from other states, proposed his name as
a presidential candidate, but at his personal re-
quest- it was withdrawn. In 1857 he was again
a candidate for governor, and received the largest
vote ever given to a candidate for that office in
Ohio. When the Republican national convention
met at Chicago in 1860, Ohio presented Mr. Chase
as a candidate, and in the first ballot he received
forty-nine votes; but when the votes of Ohio were
needed to secure Mr. Lincoln's nomination they
were promptly furnished. In the same year lie
was elected to a seat in the United States senate,
and resigned it to accept the portfolio of the
treasury in the cabinet of President Lincoln. The
treasury was in need of money, and the secretary
asked for $8,000,000, April 2, 1861, of which
amount §3,099.000 was tendered at or under six
per cent. He refused all bids at higher rates
than six per cent and placed the balance in two-
year treasury notes at par or over. When Fort
Sumter was first fired upon, the secretary went
to New York and obtained $50,000,000 from the
banks in exchange for treasury notes payable in
coin, and soon after obtained $100,000,000 more
from the same source. The bankers could not
sell the bonds for coin, and on Dec. 27, 1861, the
agreement to suspend specie payment was entered
into. When the resources of the banks were
found inadequate to supply the secretary's
demand for money, he, largely through the sug-
gestion of Mr. O. B. Potter of New York, issued
• ' the greenback," which was made legal tender by
act of Congress, for all purposes except custom
duties; these treasury notes, running for various
lengths of time, and bearing interest at from
six to seven and three tenths per cent jjayable
in coin, were readily taken by the people and the
loan became very popular. This popular loan
was followed by the national banking system, a
part of the original plan of Mr. Potter. Tliese
financial measures enabled the government to
pro.secute the war, and furnished a stable cur-
rency. When Mr. Chase left the treasury de-
partment, June 30, 1804, the national debt
amounted to §1,740,090,489. On Dec. 6, 1864,
President Lincoln named Mr. Chase as chiaf jus-
tice of the U. S. supreme court, to succeed Jus-
tice Taney deceased, and liis nomination was im-
mediately confirmed by the senate. In the
