Anti-slavery had already begun to play a prominent part in Ohio politics and to Chase fell the task of organizing, politically, the Lib erty and Free-Soil parties. Up to 1840 politics had only a mild interest for Chase, though he was a delegate to the National Republican Con vention that nominated Clay in 1832. In 1836, though a Whig, he voted for General Harrison, as he did also in 1840, showing no sympathy for his friend Birney, who in 1840 was the can didate of the new Liberty party. But in May 1841 Chase had deserted the Whig party for ever and had cast in his lot with Birney. Within a year he was practically the leader of ?the Liberty party in Ohio and for eight years organized conventions, prepared party addresses and bolstered up the anti-slavery press. He took part in the National Liberty Convention at Buffalo in 1843 and again in 1847, but through a shrewd move he practically dissolved the old Liberty party and secured a convention of the party members, now known as Free Soilers, at Buffalo in August 1848. This con vention, over which Chase presided, nominated Van Buren for the Presidency. On 22 Feb. 1849, through a curious combination of Demo crats, Independent Democrats and Free-Soilers in the State legislature, he was elected to the United States Senate. There he continued his opposition to slavery during the stormy scenes of the period of compromise in 1850, and was particularly outspoken, especially in his speech of 26-27 March 1850, in condemning Clay's position and proposal. Chase usually acted with the Democrats, claiming to have been elected as a Democrat, and thereby losing a large share of the confidence of the Free-Soilers, but he gradually became estranged from the Demo crats, too, and in 1851 to 1852 spent much of his time in a futile attempt to build up a "Free Democracy)); finally in 1852 the nomination of Pierce on a pro-slavery platform compelled him to withdraw entirely from the Democratic party and to rejoin his old Free-Soil allies. In 1853, however, the Democrats secured a ma jority in the State legislature and therefore Chase failed of re-election to the Senate. In 1854, even with such men as Sumner and Seward in the Senate, he became the leader of the opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska bill and on 24 Jan. 1854, in collaboration with Sumner, Giddings and others, issued the historic "Appeal of the Independent Democrats in Congress to the People of the United States,)) but he could not prevent the passage of the bill. The politi cal result of the struggle was the rending of the Whig party and the formation by the northern Whigs and independent Democrats of the Re publican party, largely due to Chase's activities. In July 1855, therefore, the "Anti-Nebraskas Republican Convention of Ohio nominated him for governor and after a close contest he was elected. He made an excellent executive, intro duced many needed reforms and continuing,his efforts in behalf of the negro, and in 1856 believed himself qualified for the Presidency, but he could not secure pledged votes sufficient for his nomination at the Republican conven tion and withdrew his name. In 1857 he was re-elected governor; thenceforth he was recog nized as a Republican leader, and on 2 Feb. 1860 was again elected United States Senator for the term beginning 4 March 1861. Again in 1860 he endeavored to obtain the Presidential nomination but was unsuccessful and in Janu ary 1861, at the solicitation of Lincoln (then President-elect), accepted the post of Secretary of the Treasury, taking the oath of office 7 March and thus relinquishing the senatorship.
Hardly had he assumed qjfice when, in April 1861, the Civil War began. He rehabilitated the disorganized and almost bankrupt treasury; suggested and secured the enactment of new taxes and property confiscation acts; borrowed money, maintained the national credit, regulated commerce; provided the legal tender paper cur rency authorized by Congress; insisted upon the establishment of a national banking system and finally saw it put into operation; and admin istered his department -and the financial affairs of the country in so creditable a manner as to distinguish himself as one of the great incum bents of that important Cabinet office. (See UNITED STATES, FINANCES OF THE, 1861). De spite his onerous duties he never lost sight of the slavery question, supported Butler's con tention that slaves escaping within the Union army lines were "contraband of war" and advo cated the arming of negroes. He opposed Lincoln's colonization scheme but warmly sup ported the Emancipation Proclamation, though tt did not exactly conform to his conception of the proper method of solving this problem. He differed with the President in many of his political views; held a widely divergent idea of the functions of department heads and felt aggrieved when Lincoln disregarded his advice on military affairs; he corresponded with army commanders and has even been accused of counseling disobedience to the President's orders, directly criticising him and expressing a distrust of him, that, considering its source, could only have created dissension among those for whose conduct Lincoln was directly re sponsible to the people. Like Seward, Chase hoped to obtain ascendency over Lincoln, and when he learned that Lincoln, after his own fashion, completely dominated the situation and was determined to survive or perish according to the success or failure of his own policies, he resigned (as did Seward, too,) 20 Dec. 1862,
petulantly stating that he expected his opinions and those of his colleagues to carry more weight with the President —"there are certain heads of departments, but no real Cabinet.) Lincoln refused to accept the resignations, but on 3 March 1863 Chase prepared another resignation because Lincoln refused to nominate a revenue collector selected by him. Again on 11 May 1863 Chase became disgruntled because Lin coln removed an official whom he considered unfit for his post, but Lincoln again refused to accept the proffered resignation. The minor differences between Lincoln and Chase were accentuated by their rivalry for the Presidential nomination in 1864, but the issuance in Febru ary 1864 of the so-called "Pomeroy Circular," criticising Lincoln, rendered impossible Chase's nomination and placed him in a delicate rela tionship with the President, wherefore on 22 February he again offered to resign and again was requested to remain. Finally in June 1864 another dispute arose over patronage in New York and though peacefully settled Chase, still sore because of Lincoln's renomination, decided once more to resign (29 June) and this time (30 June) Lincoln unexpectedly accepted it, appointing W. P. Fessenden (q.v.) as his suc cessor.
Before his retirement from the Cabinet Chase had signified a desire to be chief justice of the Supreme Court and in spite of many objections Lincoln nominated him 6 Dec. 1864 to fill the post recently made vacant by the death of Chief Justice Taney (q.v.). He con tinued to advocate the universal enfranchise ment of the negro, warmly sympathized with the work of the Freedmen's Bureau, and in 1866 became president of the °American Freed man's Union Commission," a benevolent society intended to advance the work of civilization. He took little part in President Johnson's dis pute with Congress regarding reconstruction, but privately opposed the readmission of any seceded State until it had granted suffrage to negroes; he drafted the Fourteenth Amend ment, which, somewhat extended, was accepted and passed by Congress, and later used it in his dissent from the court's decision in the Slaughter House Cases (q.v.). Chase consid ered the President's military governments ab normal, and even after Johnson's proclamation declaring the war at an end (2 April 1866) he steadfastly refused to hold court in Virginia and North Carolina (which were included in his circuit) "until all possibility of claim that the judicial is subordinate to the military power is removed by express declaration from the President) In June 1867, however, he assumed his functions at Raleigh. Chase dissented from the Court's decision in the Milligan (see MILLI GAN DECISION), Cummings and Garland cases and refused to sit in the trial of Jefferson Davis until late in 1868 when, however, the amnesty proclamation of 25 Dec. 1868 permitted Davis' release and the case was not tned on its merits. Though considering the trial impolitic and un just, Chase presided with calmness and good judgment over the impeachment of President Johnson in 1868. Prior to this time he had allowed his friends again to bring his name before the Republicans as a candidate for the Presidential nomination, but soon became con vinced that he could not secure the Republican nomination and entirely changed his attitude toward that party, within a few weeks endeav oring to become the standard-bearer for the Democrats. However, he was not nominated and continued his work on the bench, writing numerous important decisions of the Court, such as that in the case of Texas vs. White, wherein he expounded the nature of the gov ernment as can indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States," reversing his previous theory of State suicide and as he did also in the case of White vs. Hart in 1872, approving the method of reconstruction that had been adopted. He wrote the Court's decision in the case of Hepburn vs. Griswold and thus in 1869 reviewed judicially and construed the stat utes which as an administrative officer he himself had set in, motion only a few years previously. The Court decided that the Legal Tender Act was unconstitutional in so far as it compelled the acceptance of legal tender paper currency in payment of debts contracted before the statute. By the subsequent decisions in the legal tender cases (q.v.), however, Chase was reversed, the Court holding the act constitutional. These contests were especially trying to Chase and the continual strain of the past few years began to affect him. In August 1870 he was stricken with paralysis but gradually improved, and though absent from the Court during the term of 1870-71 he sat during the terms of 1871-72 and 1872-73, preparing numerous opinions. He was well enough also in 1872 again to desire the presidential nomination. but in 1873 he began to fail rapidly, on May 6 suffered a second stroke while in New York and passed away there the next day.
(Diary and Correspondence of Salmon P. Chase) (in 'Annual Report' a the American Historical Association for 1902, Vol. II, pp. 11-527, Washington 1903) ; Hart, A. B., 'Salmon Portland Chase' (Boston 1899) ; Jones, F. R., 'Salmon Portland Chase' (Boston 1902) ' • Pike, J. S., 'Chief Justice Chase' (New York 1873) ; Shuckers, J. W., 'Life and Public Services of Salmon P. Chase' (New York 1874) ; Warden, R. B., (An Account of the Private Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase' (Cincinnati 1874).