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Hugh McCulloch (credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)
Hugh McCulloch (credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)
For more information on Hugh McCulloch, visit Britannica.com.
Hugh McCulloch
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| Biography: Hugh McCulloch |
Hugh McCulloch (1808-1895), American banker who helped launch the national banking system, was secretary of the Treasury during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Hugh McCulloch was born on Dec. 7, 1808, in Kennebunk, Maine. He attended Bowdoin College, leaving in his sophomore year to study law in Boston. A year after his admission to the bar in 1832 he moved to Fort Wayne, Ind., where he practiced law for 2 years. In 1835 he became cashier and manager of the Fort Wayne branch of the State Bank of Indiana. Though he had no banking experience, McCulloch learned fast and was soon one of the soundest bankers in the country. His bank was one of the few that did not suspend specie payments in the Panic of 1857.
In 1862 McCulloch went to Washington, D.C., as a lobbyist for state banks against the proposed legislation creating a national banking system. Despite his efforts the law was passed in 1863. It was intended to help finance the Civil War and provide a uniform, stable national currency. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, impressed by McCulloch's abilities, asked him to help put the new system into effect as comptroller of the currency. Deciding that the new system was better than the old, McCulloch accepted the job. He persuaded existing state banks to apply for Federal charters, and more than any other single person he was responsible for the successful inauguration of the national banking network.
In March 1865 President Abraham Lincoln appointed McCulloch secretary of the Treasury. After the Civil War, McCulloch urged that greenbacks issued as emergency currency during the conflict, with no specie backing, be gradually retired in order to reduce war-inflated prices and end speculation in gold. From 1866 to 1868 some $82 million of the greenbacks was gradually retired. In 1868, however, Congress heeded anticontractionist pressures and suspended retirement. The rest of the greenbacks remained in circulation, though in 1879 they were brought to a par with gold, thus achieving McCulloch's objective.
In 1869 McCulloch returned to banking. He served again briefly (1884-1885) as secretary of the Treasury under President Chester A. Arthur. In 1888 his autobiography, Men and Measures of Half a Century, appeared. He died at his Maryland estate on May 24, 1895.
Further Reading
The main source for McCulloch's career is his autobiography. Information on his work as comptroller of the currency, secretary of the Treasury, and, later, banking partner of Jay Cooke is in Ellis P. Oberholtzer, Jay Cooke: Financier of the Civil War (2 vols., 1907); Robert Sharkey, Money, Class, and Party: An Economic Study of the Civil War and Reconstruction (1959); and Irwin Unger, The Greenback Era: A Social and Political History of American Finance, 1865-1879 (1964). The last two are critical of aspects of McCulloch's activities as secretary of the Treasury.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Hugh McCulloch |
McCulloch, Hugh (məkŭl'ək), 1808-95, American financier and public official, b. Kennebunk, Maine. Educated at Bowdoin College, he studied law in Boston and practiced two years at Fort Wayne, Ind., before turning to banking and eventually becoming president of the State Bank of Indiana. In 1863 he became U.S. comptroller of the currency and launched the new national banking system. Appointed (1865) Secretary of the Treasury by Abraham Lincoln, he held office through Andrew Johnson's term. While in office, despite congressional opposition, he favored rapid reduction of the huge debt left by the Civil War as well as retirement of the legal tender notes (see greenback) and a return to specie payments in order to prevent overspeculation and a panic. After leaving the Treasury in 1869, McCulloch went into the investment business. From Oct., 1884, to Mar., 1885, he again served as Secretary of the Treasury.
Bibliography
See his Men and Measures of Half a Century (1888).
| Wikipedia: Hugh McCulloch |
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Hugh McCulloch
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| In office October 31, 1884 – March 7, 1885 |
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| President | Chester A. Arthur |
| Preceded by | Walter Q. Gresham |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Manning |
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| In office March 9, 1865 – March 3, 1869 |
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| President | Abraham Lincoln (1865) Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) |
| Preceded by | William P. Fessenden |
| Succeeded by | George S. Boutwell |
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| Born | December 7, 1808 Kennebunk, Maine, U.S. |
| Died | May 24, 1895 (aged 86) Prince George's County, Maryland, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | Bowdoin College |
| Profession | Politician, Lawyer |
This article is about the American statesman. For the American poet, see Hugh McCulloch (poet). For other meanings, see Hugh McCulloch (disambiguation).
Hugh McCulloch (December 7, 1808 – May 24, 1895) was an American statesman who served two non-consecutive terms as U.S. Treasury Secretary, serving under three presidents.
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Biography
Born at Kennebunk, Maine, he was educated at Bowdoin College, studied law in Boston, and in 1833 began practicing law at Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was cashier and manager of the Fort Wayne branch of the state chartered Bank of Indiana and President of the larger organization from 1835 to 1857, and president of its successor, the private owned Bank of Indiana from 1857 to 1863. Notwithstanding his early opposition to the "National Banking Act of 1862", he was selected by Salmon P. Chase to be the first Comptroller of the Currency in 1863. During McCulloch's 22 months in office, 868 national banks were chartered and no failures occurred. As the first Comptroller, McCulloch recommended major changes in the banking law and the resulting National Banking Act of 1864 remains the foundation of the national banking system.
On March 9, 1865, McCulloch was appointed as the 27th Secretary of the Treasury by President Abraham Lincoln. His appointment was largely due to his influence with existing state banks. On the morning of Lincoln's assassination, newly appointed McCulloch remarked "I never saw Mr. Lincoln so cheerful and happy." He continued to serve in the Presidential Cabinet of Andrew Johnson until the close of his administration in 1869.
Immediately confronted with inflation caused by the government's wartime issue of greenbacks, he recommended their retirement and a return to the gold standard. In McCulloch's first annual report, issued on December 4, 1865, he strongly urged the retirement of the legal tenders or greenbacks as a preliminary to the resumption of specie payments. However this would have reduced the supply of currency and was unpopular during the period of postwar reconstruction and westward expansion.
In accordance with this suggestion an act was passed, on March 12, 1866, authorizing the retirement of not more than $10,000,000 in six months and not more than $4,000,000 per month thereafter. This act met with strong opposition and was repealed on the February 4, 1868, after only $48,000,000 had been retired. The battle over its revival raged for the next fifty years. McCulloch was also disappointed by the decision of the United States Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of the legal tenders.
During his tenure, McCulloch maintained a policy of reducing the federal war debt and the careful reintroduction of federal taxation in the South.
Soon after the close of his term of office McCulloch went to England, and spent six years (1870-1876) as a member of the banking firm of Jay Cooke, McCulloch & Co.
From October 1884 until the close of President Chester A. Arthur's term of office in March 1885 he was again secretary of the treasury, the 36th in the line. During his six months in office at that time, he continued his fight for currency backed by gold, warning that the coinage of silver, used by then as backing for currency, should be halted.
He died at his home, Holly Hill in Prince George's County, Maryland, near Washington, D.C. in 1895 and is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in D.C. McCulloch Hall, a residence hall at Harvard Business School, was named in his honor.
The chief authority for the life of McCulloch is his own book, Men and Measures of Half a Century (New York, 1888). McCulloch was the last surviving member of the Lincoln cabinet.
Bank of Indiana
McCulloch began his banking career as the President of the Bank of Indiana. In 1833 the bank was established in response the closure of the Second Bank of the United States. Indiana was still a wilderness and no eastern bank was willing take charge of the fledgling state bank. McCulloch was one of the few prominent businessmen in the young state, and although he had no banking experience, he was appointed because he was the most qualified person willing to take the position.
He ran the bank with great efficiency making it one of the most stable in the nation. He remained president until the bank was closed in 1859 and the bank's notes were exchanged for federal notes from the new national bank. He then went on to become president of the Second Bank of Indiana, where he remained until 1865.
References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
External links
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by William P. Fessenden |
United States Secretary of the Treasury Served Under: Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson 1865–1869 |
Succeeded by George S. Boutwell |
| Preceded by Walter Q. Gresham |
United States Secretary of the Treasury Served Under: Chester A. Arthur 1884–1885 |
Succeeded by Daniel Manning |
| Preceded by — |
Comptroller of the Currency 1863–1865 |
Succeeded by Freeman Clarke |
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