DALLAS, ALEXANDER JAMES an American lawyer, financier, and statesman who as secretary of the United States Treasury during the difficult years 1814-16 rendered great service in the restoration of a national bank and a national currency and in the formulation of the tariff of 1816, was the son of a Scottish physician of good family and good English connections. The father, Robert Charles Dallas, was resident in Jamaica when the son was born, but returned to Britain for the education of his children. Alexander attended school in Edin burgh and at Kensington in London attracting the attention of Dr. Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Samuel Johnson. The father's untimely death cut short the boy's plans for a legal education in the Temple ; and young Alexander James Dallas earned a living in a counting-house for two years. His mother's second marriage enabled him to join the family in Devonshire and resume his studies. In 1780, at the age of 21, he married Arabella Maria, the i6-year-old daughter of Major George Smith, and proceeded with her to Jamaica, whither his mother had gone, and where Major Smith was on military duty. There he became acquainted with Lewis Hallam, who induced him to go to Philadelphia. In this move one may possibly discern the influence of young Dallas' former association with Dr. Benjamin Franklin. Dallas immedi ately took up the study of law, and gained admission to practice in 1785. With Hallam he indulged his literary and theatrical inclina tions, editing the Columbian Magazine from 1787 to 1789 and help ing Hallam in the establishment of the theatre in Philadelphia.
Possibly during these eventful years, young Dallas developed those abilities and powers which enabled him to render great service to his adopted country in the last two or three years of his life. However this may be, the formation of "a more perfect Union" through the adoption of the Constitution of 1789, and the consequent development of political parties, appear to have stimulated his legal practice and to have drawn his attention to politics and the public service. In 1795 he gained much in fluence in the Democratic-Republican Party by the publication of an able pamphlet against the Jay Treaty; and when Jefferson became president in 18o1, Dallas was appointed United States attorney for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, a position which he held continuously until Madison called him to be secre tary of the United States Treasury in 1814. During this quarter century, 1789-1814, at the beginning of which Dallas was about 3o years old, he belonged to the McKean-Gallatin branch of the Republicans and opposed the Leib-Duane combination, but he was not on that account any more acceptable to the Federalist element, who naturally feared the ability of the men of the Gallatin school. Although biography has failed to explain satis factorily A. J. Dallas's development, it is certain that by 1814 he possessed the constructive abilities and powers which were so much needed in the United States Treasury at that time. Within a fortnight after he had entered upon the duties of that post, he wrote a letter to the committee on ways and means recommending the establishment of a national bank. The result ing bill was amended, however, so that it became unacceptable; and Dallas sent another outline in a letter to John C. Calhoun, chairman of the committee on the currency, who was able to carry a bill embodying Dallas's recommendations. Consequently, the second bank of the United States went into operation in Jan., 1817, and resumption of specie payments followed shortly. Meanwhile, he had made recommendations regarding the tariff and a system of protection which became the basis of the Tariff Act of 1816. He left the Treasury, in March 1816, with a surplus of $20,000,000.
See G. M. Dallas, Life and Writings of Alexander James Dallas (1871) ; The Nation (New York), Sept. 14, 1871; and Henry Adams, History of the United States.