Chase, Salmon Portland

(Jan. 13, 1808-May 7, 1873). Episcopal lay anti-slavery leader and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, and raised by his uncle, Bishop Philander Chase of Ohio. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1829. From the beginning of his career he was unalterably opposed to slavery. In 1837 at Cincinnati, he defended a fugitive slave woman. Chase defended so many fugitive slaves that he was called “attorney-general for runaway Negroes.” Chase was U.S. Senator from Ohio, 1849-1855 and 1860, and Governor of Ohio, 1855-1859. He was secretary of the treasury in President Lincoln's cabinet, 1861-1864, and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1864-1873. Chase believed that he was called by God to work for the freedom of the Negro slaves. He died in New York City.