William P. Fessenden

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William Pitt Fessenden

26th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office July 5, 1864 – March 3, 1865
Preceded by	Salmon Chase
Succeeded by	Hugh McCulloch

Born	October 16, 1806 Boscawen, New Hampshire, USA
Died	September 8, 1869 USA
Political party	Whig, Republican
Profession	Politician, Lawyer

William Pitt Fessenden (October 16, 1806 – September 8, 1869) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Maine.

Fessenden was a Whig (later a Republican) and member of the Fessenden political family. He served in the United States House of Representatives and Senate before becoming Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War.

Fessenden was born in Boscawen, New Hampshire. He graduated from Bowdoin College and became a lawyer, practicing with his father Samuel Fessenden, who was also a prominent anti-slavery activist. He was a founding member of the Maine Temperance Society in 1827.^[1] He served four non-consecutive terms in the Maine House of Representatives, and he was elected for one term in the United States House of Representatives. He was elected in 1854, with the support of Whigs and Anti-Slavery Democrats, to the U.S. Senate. Upon taking office, he immediately began speaking against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and participated in the organization of the United States Republican Party, being re-elected to the Senate from that group in 1860.

He served as chairman of the Finance Committee during the 37th through 39th Congresses, which led to his Cabinet appointment. He also served as a chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds during the 40th Congress, the Appropriations Committee during the 41st Congress and the U.S. Senate Committee on the Library, also during the 41st Congress.

Following the close of the Civil War, which he helped finance on the Union side in cooperation with Lincoln, his predecessor Salmon P. Chase and members of the Congress, he was considered a moderate, rather than Radical, Republican.

He died in 1869 and was interned at Evergreen Cemetery in Portland, Maine.

Two of his brothers, Samuel C. Fessenden and T.A.D. Fessenden, were also Congressmen. He had three sons who served in the American Civil War: Samuel Fessenden, killed at the Second Battle of Bull Run, and Brigadier-General James D. Fessenden and Major-General Francis Fessenden, the latter of whom wrote a two-volume biography of his father which was published in 1907.

[edit] Sources

Charles A. Jellison. Fessenden of Maine, Civil War Senator (1962), the standard biography

This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

[edit] External links

Preceded by: Salmon P. Chase	United States Secretary of the Treasury 1864–1865	Succeeded by: Hugh McCulloch
Preceded by: James W. Bradbury	U.S. Senator from Maine 1853–1861	Succeeded by: Nathan A. Farwell
Preceded by: Nathan A. Farwell	U.S. Senator from Maine 1865–1869	Succeeded by: Lot M. Morrill