Albert Gallatin

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Albert Gallatin (1848)
Portrait of Albert Gallatin
Memorial in front of the Treasury Department in Washington, DC

Abraham Alfonse Albert de Gallatin (born January 29, 1761 in Geneva , Republic of Geneva , † August 12, 1849 in Astoria (now part of Queens ), New York ) was a Geneva- American politician ( Democratic Republican Party ), ethnologist , linguist and diplomat . He was an MP and Senator from Pennsylvania and the longest-serving Treasury Secretary in American history from 1801 to 1814 . He then worked for several years as ambassador to France and the United Kingdom .

Life

Albert Gallatin came from a family from the Geneva Republic, whose members a. a. also held high positions in the judiciary and in the military. His father was a wealthy businessman, but died very early in 1765 and his mother in 1770. In 1779 Gallatin successfully completed his studies at the University of Geneva and emigrated a year later to Massachusetts , where he taught French at Harvard University until he moved to Pennsylvania in 1784 . From 1790 to 1792 he was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives . In 1793 he was elected to the Senate , but was unable to take office because he had not been a US citizen long enough . From 1794 to 1801 he was a member of the United States House of Representatives . In 1797 he laid the foundation stone for what would later become New Geneva, which is now a Historic District in Nicholson Township, Fayette County .

Gallatin was Treasury Secretary of the United States from 1801 to 1809 under President Thomas Jefferson and from 1809 to 1814 under President James Madison . During his tenure, he ensured a balanced state budget , B. made it possible to acquire Louisiana from France (→ Louisiana Purchase ) without increasing taxes. From 1816 to 1823 he was the American envoy to France.

As an ethnologist, Gallatin dealt primarily with the language and culture of the Native Americans, primarily the Cherokee . He also examined the languages ​​of the northern and southern athabasques and found that both languages ​​are related to one another and must therefore have the same origin. In 1842 Albert Gallatin and John Russell Bartlett founded the American Ethnological Society in New York . Since 1791 he was an elected member of the American Philosophical Society .

Albert Gallatin found his final resting place in Trinity Church in New York City .

Honors

Gallatin are counties in the United States and the Gallatin Range and the Gallatin River named.

Publications

  • 1826: A Table of Indian Languages ​​of the United States.
  • 1836: Synopsis of the Indian Tribes of North America.

literature

  • Louis B. Kuppenheimer: Albert Gallatin's Vision of Democratic Stability: An Interpretive Profile. Praeger, Westport 1996, ISBN 978-0-275-95388-1 .

Web links

Commons : Albert Gallatin  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Martine Piguet: Albert de Gallatin. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . April 5, 2005 , accessed June 5, 2019 .
  2. ^ Peter Onuf: Albert Gallatin (1801-1809) - Secretary of the Treasury. ( Memento of May 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: millercenter.org, University of Virginia , accessed February 19, 2016.
  3. ↑ Jerry A. Clouse: New Geneva Historic District: Registration Form . In: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System, Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission. November 18, 1994, accessed on February 19, 2016 (PDF, 985 kB)
  4. ^ Member History: Albert Gallatin. American Philosophical Society, accessed August 16, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Gallatin, Albert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gallatin, Abraham Alfonse Albert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician, ethnologist, linguist, and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1761
PLACE OF BIRTH Geneva
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 1849
Place of death Astoria , New York