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SALMON PORTLAND
CHASE was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, on January 13,
1808, and was raised in Ohio. He returned to New Hampshire
to attend Dartmouth College and was graduated in 1826
at the age of eighteen. He then moved to Washington, D.C.,
where he read law under Attorney General William Wirth.
Chase was admitted to the bar in 1829 and moved to Cincinnati,
Ohio, where he worked as a lecturer, writer, and editor
while he established a legal practice. Chase became involved
in the anti-slavery movement, and in 1848 he helped to
write the platform of the Free Soilers Party. In 1848,
the Ohio legislature elected Chase to the United States
Senate, where he served one six-year term. In 1855, he
was elected to a four-year term as Governor of Ohio, and
in 1860 he was re-elected to the United States Senate.
Chase resigned his Senate seat after only two days to
accept a wartime appointment by President Abraham Lincoln
as Secretary of the Treasury. He resigned from that post
in June 1864. Six months later, on December 6, 1864, President
Lincoln nominated Chase Chief Justice of the United States.
The Senate confirmed the appointment the same day. Chase
served as Chief Justice for eight years and died on May
7, 1873, at the age of sixty-five. |
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