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The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 9, February 29, 2004, Article 5 SALMON P. CHASE INFO SOUGHT Stefan Herpel of Ann Arbor, MI writes: "I am a lawyer and graduate of Michigan Law School, and am doing research for an article on Salmon Chase and the Legal Tender Cases. I have been stymied in my search for a source of a particular anecdote about Salmon Chase and the greenback notes that were put into circulation in 1861, under his stewardship as Secretary of the Treasury. I was wondering if you have any ideas about where I should look. Somewhere last year, I read that, after passage of the first Legal Tender Act in 1862, Chase made the decision to put his own portrait on the $1.00 note and Lincoln's on a higher denomination note (I believe the $10.00 note), and that he defended that decision by telling somebody that Lincoln was of higher stature than himself. Since the $1.00 note circulated more widely than the $10.00 note, the implication was that Chase's real reason was to get name recognition to promote a presidential run. Phelps' biography of Kate Chase suggests that Kate perceived this benefit from his portrait on the $1.00 note. I thought I had read about Chase's decision and his defense of it in Arthur Nussbaum's book about the history of the dollar, but I was mistaken. I have since searched long and hard for the source of this information, to no avail. None of the three 20th Century biographies of Chase mentions it. I did not find it in Burton Hendrick's "Lincoln's War Cabinet," or in Bray Hammond's "Sovereignty and an Empty Purse." It is not reported in Macartney's book about Lincoln's cabinet, or in Umbreit's book about the chief justices, or in Mitchell's history of the greenbacks. It is not in Fairman's long essay about the Legal Tender cases in the Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court, and is not in his biography of Justice Miller, or in Swisher's biography of Justice Field. It is not in Donald's biography of Lincoln or in numerous other biographies of Lincoln that I have looked at. I have not looked at Otto Gresham's and Unger's books about the greenbacks, and will try them. Can you possibly suggest other books or articles that may elaborate on this anecdote? Thanks for any help you can provide." [I'm not sure of the source of this anecdote, either. Can any of our sharp-eyed readers help? -Editor] Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum | |
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