Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland), 1808-1873 to William Pitt Fessenden

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GLC#
GLC01574.01
Type
Letters
Date
January 27, 1863
Author/Creator
Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland), 1808-1873
Title
to William Pitt Fessenden
Place Written
Washington, District of Columbia
Pagination
3 p. : docket ; Height: 25 cm, Width: 20 cm
Language
English
Primary time period
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877
Sub-Era
The American Civil War

Letter written as Secretary of Treasury on department stationery. Discusses the national banking system and tax on circulation. States that against his urgings, Congress has insisted on a conversion clause. Writes that in his first report in July 1861, he suggested a tax on bank notes and other internal taxes but that no duties were imposed. In his second report, he says he proposed a national banking system and a tax on circulation. Remarks, "It is my considered judgment that had these views been adopted at the last session...there might have been comparatively little financial embarrassment at the time." Ends by stating of Fessenden, "You have the brains of a statesman & the heart of a patriot. Never was greater need of both."

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