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William P. Fessenden
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Fessenden, William Pitt, 1806-69, American politician, b. Boscawen, N.H. Admitted (1827) to the bar, he began practice in Portland in 1829 and by 1835 was regarded as one of the leading lawyers of Maine. A Whig, he served several terms in the state legislature and one (1841-43) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Fessenden was active in organizing the Republican party in Maine and in 1854 was elected to the U.S. Senate, where, except for nine months as Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury (June, 1864-Mar., 1865), he remained until his death. Beginning with a notable speech against the Kansas-Nebraska Act, he gained a reputation as one of the Senate's greatest debaters. Made a member of the finance committee in 1857, Fessenden was its chairman during most of the Civil War. In that capacity and as Secretary of the Treasury he established an excellent record in public finance, trying to confine expenditures to necessary measures and to resist inflation. In Dec., 1865, he became chairman of the joint committee on Reconstruction and wrote most of its famous report. Although he believed Congress, and not the President, should direct Reconstruction, and although he disliked Andrew Johnson personally, he refused to vote for Johnson's impeachment. He also refused to vote on the Tenure of Office Act and in general acted more moderately than his fellow radical Republicans. His course, particularly in regard to the impeachment proceedings, was contrary to the expressed wishes of his constituency, and for a time he was unpopular.
Bibliography
See biography by his son, F. Fessenden (1907, repr. 1970); B. J. Hendrick, Lincoln's War Cabinet (1946, repr. 1965); C. A. Jellison, Fessenden of Maine: Civil War Senator (1962).
| Wikipedia: William P. Fessenden |
| William Pitt Fessenden | |
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| In office July 5, 1864 – March 3, 1865 |
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| President | Abraham Lincoln |
| Preceded by | Salmon P. Chase |
| Succeeded by | Hugh McCulloch |
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| In office February 10, 1854 – July 1, 1864 |
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| Preceded by | James W. Bradbury |
| Succeeded by | Nathan A. Farwell |
| In office March 4, 1865 – September 8, 1869 |
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| Preceded by | Nathan A. Farwell |
| Succeeded by | Lot M. Morrill |
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| Born | October 16, 1806 Boscawen, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Died | September 8, 1869 (aged 62) Portland, Maine, U.S. |
| Political party | Whig, Opposition, Republican |
| Profession | Politician, Lawyer |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
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.
An 1864 cartoon featuring Fessenden, Edwin Stanton, Abraham Lincoln, William Seward and Gideon Welles takes a swing at the Lincoln administration.
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 Republican Party, being re-elected to the Senate from that group in 1860.
President Abraham Lincoln appointed Fessenden United States Secretary of the Treasury upon Salmon P. Chase's resignation. He served from July 5, 1864 until March 3, 1865, when he resigned to take a seat in the Senate again.
From 1865 to 1867, he headed the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, which was responsible for overseeing the readmission of states from the former Confederacy into the Union.
In 1867, he was one of two senators who voted against the purchase of Alaska from Russia.[1]
During President Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial, Fessenden broke party ranks, along with six other Republican senators, and in a courageous act of political suicide, voted for acquittal. These seven Republican senators were disturbed by how the proceedings had been manipulated in order to give a one-sided presentation of the evidence. Senators William P. Fessenden, Joseph S. Fowler, James W. Grimes, John B. Henderson, Lyman Trumbull, Peter G. Van Winkle [2], and Edmund G. Ross of Kansas, who provided the decisive vote [3], defied their party and public opinion and voted against conviction. As a result, a 35-19 vote in favor of removing the President from office failed by a single vote of reaching a 2/3rds majority.
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 interred at Evergreen Cemetery in Portland, Maine. He is the only person to have three streets in Portland named for him: William, Pitt and Fessenden streets in the city's Oakdale neighborhood.
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.
Frederic Porter Vinton's portrait of William P. Fessenden, posthumous. Circa. 1870
References
- Charles A. Jellison. Fessenden of Maine, Civil War Senator (1962), the standard biography
- William P. Fessenden at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
Notes
- ^ Rolde, Neal (1990). Maine: A Narrative History. Gardiner, ME: Harpswell Press. pp. 175. ISBN 0-88448-069-0.
- ^ "Andrew Johnson Trial: The Consciences of Seven Republicans Save Johnson".
- ^ "The Trial of Andrew Johnson, 1868".
External links
- William P. Fessenden at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Biography at Lincoln's White House
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