In 1834 he defended abolitionist editor and activist James Birney for harboring a runaway slave. Chase became convinced that slavery was a sin and that blacks deserved equal civil rights. He soon began defending the slaves themselves, causing his opponents to label him the "Attorney General of Fugitive Slaves." He was one of the organizers of the Liberty party and, in 1848, of the Free-Soil party in Ohio. In 1849 a coalition of Free-Soil and Democratic legislators elected him to represent Ohio in the U. S. Senate. During his single term, Chase introduced the successful Pacific Railroad Act and vehemently condemned the fugitive slave bill that became part of the Compromise of 1850. His opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 provoked him to organize the Anti-Nebraska party in Ohio, which soon became the new Republican party. He was elected governor of Ohio in 1855 as a Republican and reelected in 1857. As governor he advocated public education, prison reform, and women’s rights.

Chase’s political goal was to become president of the United States, but he failed to gain the Republican nomination in either 1856, 1860, or 1864. The Ohio legislature decided to return him to the U. S. Senate in 1861, where he served but two days before resigning to become Lincoln’s secretary of the treasury. During the Civil War he faced the daunting task of financing the Union war effort and maintaining the nation’s solvency. He created a national banking system, issued fiat money, and established an Internal Revenue Division.

Chase was a constant critic of Lincoln’s policies, inundating the president with unsolicited advice and proffering his resignation four times in fits of pique. In late 1863- early 1864 a group of radical Republicans turned to Chase as an alternative to Lincoln for presidency. The Chase "boom" collapsed within a few months, however, and in June 1864 the treasury secretary once again offered the president his resignation. This time Lincoln accepted it. When Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney became fatally ill in the late summer, Chase hoped for a promise from Lincoln for the appointment, but the president hesitated. Taking the hint, Chase began campaigning for the president’s reelection. Taney died in early October and two months later the reelected president appointed Chase to the coveted position, which he held until his death in 1873.

In one of his first acts as chief justice, Chase authorized John Rock as the first African-American attorney to argue cases before the Supreme Court. In March 1868 Chase presided over the removal trial of the impeached President Johnson in the U.S. Senate. The Chief Justice brought to the trial a much needed air of dignity and impartiality. As the first impeachment trial of a president under the Constitution, Chase realized that the procedure would set important precedents. He insisted that the Senate conduct itself as a court of law, not as a legislative body.

Chase was unable to forge a solid majority during his tenure as chief justice and often found himself in dissent on such important cases as Ex parte Milligan (1866), Bradwell v. Illinois (1873) and the Slaughterhouse Cases (1873). In Texas v. White (1869), however, he authored the majority opinion that ruled secession unconstitutional and reaffirmed the Congressional right to guarantee republican government in the states. This decision essentially endorsed Congressional control over the Reconstruction process.

In 1868 Chase sought the presidential nomination of the Democratic party, but was passed over because of his stance in favor of voting rights for black men. Thereafter he largely withdrew from partisan politics, although he opposed Grant’s reelection in 1872. Chase died in New York City.

Sources consulted: William A. DeGregario, The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents; Harper’s Encyclopedia of United States History; John Niven, Salmon P. Chase: A Biography; and Lydia L. Rapoza, "Salmon P. Chase" on the Revolution to Reconstruction website.