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CHASE, Salmon Portland (1808-1873)
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Senate Years of Service: 1849-1855; 1861-1861

CHASE, SALMON PORTLAND, (nephew of Dudley Chase, cousin of Dudley Chase Denison, and father-in-law of William Sprague [1830-1915]), a Senator from Ohio; born in Cornish, N.H., January 13, 1808; attended schools at Windsor, Vermont, Worthington, Ohio, and the Cincinnati (Ohio) College; graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., in 1826; taught school; studied law in Washington, D.C.; admitted to the bar in 1829; commenced practice in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1830; elected as a Whig to the Cincinnati City Council in 1840; identified himself in 1841 with the Liberty Party, and later with the Free Soil Party; elected to the United States Senate as a Free Soil candidate and served from March 4, 1849, to March 3, 1855; elected Governor of Ohio in 1855 as a Free Soil Democrat and reelected in 1857 as a Republican; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1860; took his seat March 4, 1861, but resigned two days later to become Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln; served as Secretary of the Treasury until July 1864, when he resigned; member of the peace convention of 1861 held in Washington, D.C., in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court from December 1864 until his death on May 7, 1873; presided at the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868; died in New York City; interment in Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C.; reinterment in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Chicago Historical Society
Chicago, IL
Papers: Ca. 25 miscellaneous items in various collections.
Cincinnati Historical Society
Cincinnati, OH
Papers: 1849-1873. 246 items. Political correspondence and photographs. Finding aid.
Additional Papers: Correspondence in Timothy Kirby papers, 1788-1935; and miscellaneous items in various collections.
Hagley Museum and Library
Greenville, DE
Papers: In the Pierre S. du Pont office collection, 1749-1939.
Harvard University
Houghton Library
Cambridge, MA
Papers: In the Charles Sumner papers, 1829-1895, available on microfilm; 3 letters (1862) from Edward Lillie Pierce in Edward William Hooper papers, 1862-1865; and in Western Americana manuscripts collection, 1805-1923.
Rutherford B. Hayes Library
Fremont, OH
Papers: Correspondence in Quintus Flaminius Atkins papers, 1805-1854. Finding aid.
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Papers: 1824-1881. 12 linear feet. Includes correspondence; letterbooks; diaries; documents on politics, economic situations, and social history; and biographical notes of J.W. Schulker.
Additional Papers: Correspondence (1872) in James Moore Swank papers, 1785-1898; and Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer papers, 1735-1931.
Indiana State Library
Indianapolis, IN
Papers: Correspondence in George Washington Julian papers, 1789-1902.
Indiana University
Lilly Library
Bloomington, IN
Papers: Correspondence in Hamilton Smith papers, 1779-1874. Finding aid.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers: 1755-1898 (bulk 1824-1872). 14.75 linear feet. Diaries (1829-1870), correspondence (1810-1898), letterbooks (1833-1873), speeches and writings (1849-1868), financial papers (1774-1873), legal documents (1755-1872), and biographical miscellany (1840-1896). Diaries covering the years 1861-1864 document Chase's participation in the formulation of policy and events relating to the Civil War. Correspondence covers all aspects of Chase's public career including law practice, Ohio and national politics, the Liberty party, his opposition to slavery, national finance, military operations of the Civil War, involvement with cases and other business of the Supreme Court and national issues of the day including politics, the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, creation of a national currency, and the progress of Reconstruction. Available on 38 microfilm reels. Finding aid.
Additional Papers: Correspondence, notes, manuscripts of articles, and clippings relating to Chase's life and career in the Jacob William Schuckers papers, 1862-1899, 1 foot. Schuckers was Chase's private secretary and biographer.
Massachusetts Historical Society
Boston, MA
Papers: 65 letters (1844-1869) in various collections. Finding aid.
New Hampshire Historical Society
Concord, NH
Papers: 1846-1861. 1 envelope.
New Jersey Historical Society
Newark, NJ
Papers: Correspondence in William Nelson papers, 1690-1875.
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
Papers: 1841-1868. 30 letters.
New York Public Library
New York, NY
Papers: Correspondence in James A. Hamilton papers, [ca. 1740-1867]; Louis Goldsborough papers, 1821-1873; and William Cullen Bryant papers, 1804-1913 (bulk 1820-1898).
New York State Library
Manuscripts and Special Collections
Albany, NY
Papers: In Autographs of American Authors and Statesmen collection, ca. 1770-1865; Edwin Denison Morgan papers, 1830-1872; and 5 letters (1862, 1863 (2), 1865, 1870).
Newberry Library
Chicago, IL
Papers: Correspondence in Daniel Stevens Dickinson papers, 1799-1892. Finding aid.
Ohio Historical Society
Columbus, OH
Papers: 1825-1871. Ca. 4 feet. Correspondence and papers chiefly from his governorship including letters of recommendation, petitions for patronage and pardons, resignations, reports, and correspondence relating to Peyton Polly slave case. Available on microfilm. Finding aid. Also photographs and miscellaneous letters in various collections including Peter Weidner papers, 1859-1888.
Pierpont Morgan Library
New York, NY
Papers: 6 items (1862-1866); and 15 letters (1851-1864) chiefly on political topics in the Gilder Lehrman collection. Finding aid.
University of Maine
Fogler Library Special Collections
Orono, ME
Papers: Correspondence in James Shepherd Pike papers, 1850-1880. Finding aid.
University of the Pacific
Holt-Atherton Pacific Center for Western Studies
Stockton, CA
Papers: Correspondence in George Arthur Bell autograph and manuscript collection, 1779-ca.1900.
University of Rochester
Rush Rhees Library
Rochester, NY
Papers: 51 letters by and 25 to Chase (1845-1872) in various collections. Finding aid.
Western Reserve Historical Society
Cleveland, OH
Papers: Correspondence in Emerson family papers, 1795-1904; Jesse Baldwin papers, 1862-1881; and Abraham Lincoln papers, 1841-1870. Finding aid.
Yale University Libraries
Manuscripts and Archives
New Haven, CT
Papers: In William Wirt papers, 1786-1850, on 24 microfilm reels, originals in the Maryland Historical Society; John McLean papers, 1817-1861, 18 microfilm reels, originals in the Library of Congress; Fowler family papers, 1707-1870; Carrington family papers, 1749-1929; William Smith Mason collection, 1800-1929; S. Griswold Flagg collection, 1825-1938; and Southard Hay collection, 1750-1885.
Claremont Graduate School Department of History
The Papers of Salmon P. Chase
Claremont, CA

Research Libraries Information Network In addition to the institutions listed above, items are also cataloged in collections at: Brown University, Providence, RI; Columbia University, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New York, NY; Cornell University Libraries, Ithaca, NY; Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA; Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia, PA; Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art, Washington, DC; Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY; Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, CA; Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA; and others.

  • Baringer, William E. "The Politics of Abolition: Salmon P. Chase in Cincinnati.'' Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin29 (Summer 1971): 79-99.
  • Blue, Frederick. "Salmon P. Chase, First Historian of the Old Northwest.'' Ohio History98 (Winter-Spring 1989): 52-69.
  • ___. Salmon P. Chase: A Life In Politics. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1987.
  • ___. "The Salmon P. Chase Papers: A Review Essay." Civil War History 44 (December 1998): 285-88.
  • Chase, Salmon Portland, ed. The Statutes of Ohio and of the Northwestern Territory, Adopted or Enacted from 1788 to 1833 Inclusive: Together with the Ordinance of 1787; the Constitutions of Ohio and of the United States, and Various Public Instruments and Acts of Congress. 3 vols. Cincinnati: Corey & Fairbank, 1833-1835.
  • Court, Susan J. "Salmon P. Chase and Abraham Lincoln.'' Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin38 (Spring 1980): 251-60.
  • Diffley, Kathleen. "'Erecting Anew the Standard of Freedom': Salmon P. Chase's `Appeal of the Independent Democrats' and the Rise of the Republican Party.'' Quarterly Journal of Speech74 (November 1988): 401-15.
  • Dodson, Samuel H., comp. Diary and Correspondence of Salmon P. Chase. 1903. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971. Originally published in Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, vol. 2.
  • Donald, David, ed. Inside Lincoln's Cabinet: The Civil War Diaries of Salmon P. Chase. New York: Longmans, Green, 1954.
  • Gienapp, William E. "Salmon P. Chase, Nativism, and the Formation of the Republican Party in Ohio.'' Ohio History93 (Winter-Spring 1984): 5-39.
  • Gruber, Robert Henry. "Salmon P. Chase and the Politics of Reform.'' Ph.D. dissertation, University of Maryland, 1969.
  • Hale, Frank W. "Salmon Portland Chase: Rhetorician of Abolition.'' Negro History Bulletin26 (February 1963): 165-68.
  • Hart, Albert Bushnell. Salmon P. Chase. 1899. Reprint. New York: Chelsea House, 1980.
  • Johnson, Dick. "The Role of Salmon P. Chase in the Formation of the Republican Party.'' Old Northwest3 (March 1977): 23-38.
  • Jones, Francis R. "Salmon Portland Chase.'' Green Bag14 (April 1902): 155-65.
  • Kazarian, Richard, Jr. "Working Radicals: The Early Political Careers of William Seward, Thaddeus Stevens, Henry Wilson, Charles Sumner, Salmon P. Chase and Hannibal Hamlin.'' Ph.D. dissertation, Brown University, 1981.
  • Luthin, Reinhard H. "Salmon P. Chase's Career Before the Civil War.'' Mississippi Valley Historical Review29 (March 1943): 517-40.
  • Maizlish, Stephen E. "Salmon P. Chase: The Roots of Ambition and the Origins of Reform." Journal of the Early Republic 18 (Spring 1998): 47-70.
  • Middleton, Stephen. Ohio and the Antislavery Activities of Attorney Salmon Portland Chase, 1830-1849. New York: Garland Publishing, 1990.
  • Niven, John. Salmon P. Chase: A Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
  • ___. "Salmon P. Chase and the Republican Conventions of 1856 and 1860: Bolingbroke or Sincere Reformer?'' In A Crisis of Republicanism: American Politics in the Civil War Era, edited by Lloyd E. Ambrosius, pp. 55-72. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990.
  • Niven, John, James P. McClure, and Patrick Delana, eds. The Salmon P. Chase Papers. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1987. Microfilm. 43 reels and guide.
  • Niven, John, James P. McClure, and Leigh Johnsen, eds. The Salmon P. Chase Papers. 5 vols. to date. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1997-.
  • Palmer, Beverly Wilson, ed. "From Small Minority to Great Cause: Letters of Charles Sumner to Salmon P. Chase.'' Ohio History93 (Summer-Autumn 1984): 164-83.
  • Roseboom, Eugene H. "Salmon P. Chase and the Know Nothings.'' Mississippi Valley Historical Review25 (December 1938): 335-50.
  • Schuckers, Jacob W. The Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase. 1874. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1970.
  • Smith, Donnal V. Chase and Civil War Politics. 1931. Reprint. Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1972. Originally published in Ohio Historical Collections, vol. 2.
  • Warden, Robert Bruce. An Account of the Private Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase. Cincinnati: Wilstach, Baldwin & Co., 1874.