William Adams Richardson
Encyclopedia
- This article is about the United States Secretary of the Treasury. For the Illinois senator, see William Alexander RichardsonWilliam Alexander RichardsonWilliam Alexander Richardson was a prominent Illinois Democrat politician before and during the American Civil War....
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William Adams Richardson (November 2, 1821 – October 19, 1896) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
judge and politician.
Born in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts
Tyngsborough, Massachusetts
Tyngsborough is a town located in the northwest section of Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Composed of of land and surface water, Tyngsborough borders the towns of Dunstable, Groton, Westford, Chelmsford, Dracut, and the City of Lowell, as well as the New Hampshire communities of Hudson,...
, he graduated from Pinkerton Academy
Pinkerton Academy
Pinkerton Academy is a secondary school in Derry, New Hampshire. It is the largest independent academy in the United States, serving roughly 3,600 students as the high school for the communities of Derry, Hampstead, Chester and sometimes Auburn...
, Lawrence Academy at Groton
Lawrence Academy at Groton
Lawrence Academy at Groton, , is a co-educational preparatory school located in Groton, Massachusetts, in the United States...
, and attended Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, graduating in 1843.
He earned his LL.B. from Harvard in 1846, and was a professor at Georgetown Law School
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
from 1879-1894.
In 1873 he was appointed United States Secretary of the Treasury
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
by President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
. He had served as an Assistant Treasury Secretary under his predecessor, George S. Boutwell
George S. Boutwell
George Sewall Boutwell was an American statesman who served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Ulysses S...
. He served one year, from 1873 until 1874.
The post-war
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
economy had expanded so quickly that commercial banks became nervous and began calling in their loans. As a result, in the summer of 1873 the money supply tightened drastically, causing the Panic of 1873
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 triggered a severe international economic depression in both Europe and the United States that lasted until 1879, and even longer in some countries. The depression was known as the Great Depression until the 1930s, but is now known as the Long Depression...
. Richardson responded by issuing $26 million in greenback
United States Note
A United States Note, also known as a Legal Tender Note, is a type of paper money that was issued from 1862 to 1971 in the U.S. Having been current for over 100 years, they were issued for longer than any other form of U.S. paper money. They were known popularly as "greenbacks" in their heyday, a...
s to meet the demand. The legality of his action was doubtful, but the Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
did not interfere and the crisis was eased. Such cycles of expansion and panic continued for the next thirty years, however, and were the basis for the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.
In his last months in office Richardson became embroiled in the "Sanborn incident
Sanborn Incident
The Sanborn incident or Sanborn contract was an American political scandal which occurred in 1874.William Adams Richardson, Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of the Treasury, hired a private citizen, John D. Sanborn, to collect $427,000 in unpaid taxes. Richardson agreed Sanborn could keep half of what...
."
After leaving the Treasury, Richardson was appointed by Grant to serve as a Justice and Chief Justice of the United States Court of Claims
United States Court of Claims
The Court of Claims was a federal court that heard claims against the United States government. It was established in 1855 as the Court of Claims, renamed in 1948 to the United States Court of Claims , and abolished in 1982....
in 1874. He served until his death in Washington, DC, in 1896.
Works
- Practical information concerning the public debt of the United States: with the national banking laws, by William Adams Richardson.
- History, Jurisdiction, and Practice of the Court of Claims (United States), by William Adams Richardson.
- Supplement to the Revised Statutes of the United States, 2nd ed., edited by William Adams Richardson.