William Fessenden

William Fessenden was the second of three Treasury Secretaries appointed by Abraham Lincoln. Born in Boscawen, New Hampshire in 1806, he graduated from Bowdoin College in 1823 before studying and then practicing law in Maine. Fessenden was a temperance advocate and a vocal abolitionist and served in Maine’s legislature and the US House of Representatives before his election to the Senate in 1854 where he made important speeches regarding the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, the Lecompton Constitution and the Dred Scott decision.

After Southerners left the Senate at the start of the war, Fessenden was appointed chairman of the finance committee and hence worked closely with Chase on war finance measures. Despite his failing health, however, he was an obvious choice to replace Chase. A critic of greenbacks, the fiat bills of credit issued to help finance the war, Fessenden stopped issuing them in a successful attempt to slow down inflation, which had run at about 25% per annum in 1863 and 1864. In place of the depreciated currency, he sold through Jay Cooke and other investment bankers bonds in small denominations that paid 7.30% interest, or two cents per day per $100 invested.

In March 1865, following his re-election, Fessenden returned to the Senate where he resumed his chairmanship of the finance committee. He later headed the Joint Committee on Reconstruction and voted against the purchase of Alaska and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Fessenden died in 1869 and is buried in Portland, Maine.

Materials

Objects and Images Related to Abraham Lincoln

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Lincoln Campaign Flag Campaign flag from Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 campaign. Courtesy of Mark Shenkman.

National Bank Note $1 Seventh Ward National Bank of New York bank note, 1865.

Lincoln Memo to Chase Memo from President Abraham Lincoln to Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase listing assets Lincoln wanted converted into bonds.

Lincoln Securities Bond issued to Abraham Lincoln featuring his portrait, 1864. Courtesy of the Bureau of the Public Debt.

Greenback $5 "greenback," issued March 1863.

Paper Change Three cent fractional postage currency.

Spread of Slavery Map The spread of slavery meant lower profits and wages in the North.

Salmon P. Chase Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury (March 1861 to June 1864)

$10,000 Bill $10,000 bill featuring the portrait of Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase.

William Fessenden William Fessenden, Secretary of the Treasury (July 1864 to March 1865)

Hugh McCulloch Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury (March 1865 to March 1869; October 1884 to March 1885)

CSA Currency $10 Confederate States of America note, 1863.

Monthly Return of Clothing Monthly Return of Clothing, Camp and Garrison Equipage (receipt).

Jay Cooke Check Check dated August 16, 1873 and signed by financier and patriot Jay Cooke.

Civil War Bonds Bond circular advertising subscription and sale of Seven-Thirties, 1865.

The 14th Amendment The 14th Amendment of the Constitution, ratified July 9, 1868.

Political Cartoon Punch magazine cartoon, “Lincoln’s Two Difficulties,” 1862.