George W. Campbell
George Campbell | |
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United States Minister to Russia | |
In office February 7, 1819 – July 8, 1820 | |
President | James Monroe |
Preceded by | William Pinkney |
Succeeded by | Henry Middleton |
United States Senator from Tennessee | |
In office October 10, 1815 – April 20, 1818 | |
Preceded by | Joseph Anderson |
Succeeded by | John Eaton |
In office October 8, 1811 – February 11, 1814 | |
Preceded by | Jenkin Whiteside |
Succeeded by | Jesse Wharton |
5th United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
In office February 9, 1814 – October 5, 1814 | |
President | James Madison |
Preceded by | William Jones (Acting) |
Succeeded by | Alexander Dallas |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 2nd district | |
In office March 4, 1805 – March 3, 1809 | |
Preceded by | Constituency established |
Succeeded by | Robert Weakley |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's at-large district | |
In office March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1805 | |
Preceded by | Constituency established |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | George Washington Campbell February 9, 1769 Tongue, Sutherlandshire, Scotland, Kingdom of Great Britain |
Died | February 17, 1848 Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. | (aged 79)
Political party | Democratic-Republican |
Spouse | Harriot Stoddert |
Education | Princeton University (BA) |
George Washington Campbell (February 9, 1769 – February 17, 1848) was an American statesman who served as a U.S. Representative, Senator, Tennessee Supreme Court Justice, U.S. Ambassador to Russia and the 5th United States Secretary of the Treasury from February to October 1814.
Biography
[edit]Born in the village of Tongue, Sutherlandshire on the north coast of Scotland, Campbell immigrated as a young boy to North Carolina in 1772 with his parents. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (which is now Princeton University) in 1794[1] and began studying law. He was admitted to the bar in North Carolina and began practicing in Knoxville, Tennessee. He owned slaves.[2]
U.S. House
[edit]Campbell was elected to the United States House of Representatives as the Representative from Tennessee's at-large congressional district in 1803. He served in the House from 1805 to 1809, in the 8th, 9th, and 10th Congresses. During the 10th Congress, he was the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. He was also one of the House managers appointed in 1804 to prosecute the case in the impeachment trial of John Pickering, judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire, and, later that year, he was also appointed a House manager for the impeachment trial of Samuel Chase, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
He left Congress in 1809 to become judge of the Tennessee Supreme Court, serving until 1811.
U.S. Senate and ambassadorship
[edit]Campbell served as a United States Senator from Tennessee twice, once from 1811 to 1814, having been elected to fill the seat of Jenkin Whiteside, and again from 1815 to 1818. His first service was from October 8, 1811, to February 11, 1814, when he resigned to accept appointment as the United States Secretary of the Treasury. He returned to the Senate on October 10, 1815. He served as the first chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and its predecessor from December 4, 1815, until his resignation from the Senate on April 20, 1818; on this occasion to accept appointment as United States Ambassador to Russia, a position he held from 1818 to 1821. Campbell served as a member of the French Spoliation Claims Commission in 1831.
Secretary of the Treasury
[edit]Appointed Secretary of the Treasury on his forty-fifth birthday by James Madison, Campbell faced national financial disorder brought on by the War of 1812. Congress had failed to recharter the First Bank of the United States after its charter expired in 1811, and appropriations for the war were unavailable, so Campbell had to convince Americans to buy government bonds. He was forced to meet lenders' terms, selling government bonds at exorbitant interest rates. In September 1814 the British occupied Washington, D.C., and the credit of the government was lowered even further. He was unsuccessful in his efforts to raise money through additional bond sales and he resigned that October after only eight months in office, disillusioned and in bad health.
Campbell died in 1848 and is buried at Nashville City Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ see Princeton College During the Eighteenth Century
- ^ "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, January 19, 2022, retrieved July 8, 2022
- United States Congress. "George W. Campbell (id: C000083)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Google Books, page 272 for Year 1794
External links
[edit]Media related to George W. Campbell at Wikimedia Commons
- 1769 births
- 1848 deaths
- People from Highland (council area)
- British emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies
- American people of Scottish descent
- Madison administration cabinet members
- United States secretaries of the treasury
- Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee
- Democratic-Republican Party United States senators from Tennessee
- Ambassadors of the United States to the Russian Empire
- Justices of the Tennessee Supreme Court
- American duellists
- Politicians from Knoxville, Tennessee
- 19th-century American politicians
- 19th-century American diplomats
- Princeton University alumni
- United States senators who owned slaves