William M. Meredith

William M. Meredith

William Morris (Norris) Meredith (born June 8, 1799 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † August 17, 1873 ) was an American lawyer and politician who belonged to the cabinet of US President Zachary Taylor as Treasury Secretary .

Studies and professional career

He first completed a general education course, which he completed in 1812 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) . This was followed by a law degree at the University of Pennsylvania , which he completed in 1816 with a Master of Laws (LL.M.) . After being admitted to the bar in 1817, he worked as a lawyer in his hometown.

Due to his legal experience, he was a member of the American commission to clarify the " Alabama question " from 1870 , which had led to a serious crisis between the United States and the United Kingdom after the end of the civil war and was only clarified by an international court in September 1872 .

Political career

Officials in Pennsylvania

Meredith began his political career by being elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly , to which he was a member from 1824 to 1828. Between 1834 and 1839 he was President of the Philadelphia City Council. There he represented the interests of the Whig Party . In this capacity he was also a member of the Constitutional Convention of Pennsylvania in 1837.

In 1841, after his great service during the presidential campaign of William Henry Harrison, he was appointed federal prosecutor for the eastern district of Pennsylvania to succeed John M. Read . Between 1861 and 1867 he was a member of the state government of Pennsylvania as Attorney General . In 1873, a few months before his death, he was president of the state's constitutional convention.

Treasury Secretary under President Taylor

After he had failed in his candidacy for US Senator in 1848 , President Taylor appointed him in March 1849 to succeed Robert J. Walker as Treasury Secretary in his cabinet . As finance minister, like his predecessor, he was a strong advocate of free trade policy . At the same time he saw the need to protect the working class . The most important achievement as finance minister was the arguments presented in his annual report of 1849 for a protective tariff as an effective trade barrier . The rise in national debt due to the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848 and the subsequent admission of California as the 31st state of the USA gave him the opportunity to increase state revenue through higher import duties , which were no longer implemented during his tenure. During his tenure, he also began reorganizing coastal surveillance, which had last taken place in 1806, but was urgently needed due to the enlargement of the United States through the accession of states.

After the death of President Taylor on July 9, 1850, he and the other cabinet members resigned from his office as Treasury Secretary.

Web links and background literature

Commons : William M. Meredith  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• William M. Meredith in nndb (English)
• Biography on the US Treasury Department homepage
• William M. Meredith in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)