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Samuel D. Ingham

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For the Connecticut politician, see Samuel Ingham.
Samuel Ingham
9th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office
March 6, 1829 – June 20, 1831
PresidentAndrew Jackson
Preceded byRichard Rush
Succeeded byLouis McLane
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 8th district
In office
March 4, 1823 – March 4, 1829
Seat B
Preceded bySeat established
Succeeded byPeter Ihrie Jr.
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 6th district
In office
March 4, 1813 – July 6, 1818
Seat A
Preceded byWilliam Crawford
Succeeded bySamuel Moore
In office
October 7, 1822 – March 3, 1823
Seat A
Preceded bySamuel Moore
Succeeded byRobert Harris
Personal details
Born
Samuel Delucenna Ingham

(1779-09-16)September 16, 1779
New Hope, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedJune 5, 1860(1860-06-05) (aged 80)
Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic-Republican (Before 1825)
Democratic (1825–1860)
Spouse(s)Rebecca Dodd
Deborah Hall

Samuel Delucenna Ingham (September 16, 1779 – June 5, 1860) was a US Representative and then, under President Andrew Jackson, US Treasury Secretary.

Early life and education

Ingham was born at near New Hope, Pennsylvania. His parents were Dr. Jonathan Ingham, "a famous physician from Philadelphia,"[1] and his wife, the former Ann Welding.

After a pursuit of classical studies, he was an apprentice to a paper maker along Pennypack Creek, not far from Philadelphia.[2]

Manufacturer

After completing his apprenticeship, Ingham became the manager of a paper mill at Bloomfield, New Jersey. It was while here he met Rebecca Dodd, whom he married in 1800. They would have five children.[3]

Also in 1800 Ingham returned to Pennsylvania and established a paper mill on his mother's farm (his father having died in 1793) that would be his main source of employment in the coming years[citation needed].

Political career

Bureau of Engraving and Printing portrait of Ingham as Secretary of the Treasury

He was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1806 to 1808. Then, Ingham was appointed Justice of the Peace by the Governor of Pennsylvania.

He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1813 to July 6, 1818. He easily trounced his Federalist opponents in the first two elections and had no opposition at all in 1816. He resigned from Congress in 1818 because of his wife's ill health. He was appointed the Prothonotary (Chief Clerk, Notary and Registrar of the Court) of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County, Pennsylvania after leaving Congress.[4] In 1819 Rebecca Dodd Ingham died.

Ingham served as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1819 to 1820.

In 1822 Ingham married Deborah Hall of Salem, New Jersey. They would become the parents of three children.[5]

Also in 1822 Ingham was elected to Congress where he would serve until 1829.

During the 13th Congress he was chair of the United States House Committee on Pensions and Revolutionary War Claims. During the 14th, 15th, 19th and 20th Congresses, he was chair of the House Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, and he was chair of the House Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department during the 15th Congress.

Ingham served as the ninth Secretary of the US Treasury from March 6, 1829, to June 21, 1831.

The Second Bank of the United States, viewed by Jackson and much of the nation as an unconstitutional and dangerous monopoly, was Ingham's primary concern as Secretary of the Treasury. Jackson mistrusted the Second Bank of the United States and all other banks.[6]

Jackson thought that there should be no paper currency in circulation but only coins and that the US Constitution was designed to expel paper currency from the monetary system. Ingham believed in the Second Bank and attempted to resolve conflicts between Jackson, who wanted it destroyed, and the Bank's president, Nicholas Biddle.[6]

Despite being unable to reach any resolution between Jackson and Biddle, Ingham left office over an unrelated incident, which stemmed from his involvement in the social ostracism of Peggy Eaton, the wife of Secretary of War John H. Eaton, by a group of Cabinet members and their wives. It was led by Floride Calhoun, the wife of Vice President John C. Calhoun and became known as the Petticoat affair. Eaton challenged Ingham to a duel, which Ingham did not accept. On June 20, 1831, Eaton recruited a posse to search for Ingham, and Ingham responded by arming himself and requesting Jackson's help. With no help forthcoming from the president, Ingham fled to Baltimore the following morning and then to Bucks County, thus likely saving his life.[7]

Societies

During the 1820s, Ingham was a member of the prestigious Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, which counted among its members two eventual presidents, Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams, and many other prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical, and other professions.[8]

Later life

After resigning as Secretary of the Treasury, Ingham resumed the manufacture of paper, and engaged in the development of anthracite coal fields. He was involved with the organization of the Beaver Meadow Railroad Company[a] (e. 1830[10]), of which he was then made president for a time.[11] He was connected with the organization of the Hazleton Coal Company. He worked to promote canals such at the Lehigh Navigation and the Delaware Canal. He moved to Trenton, New Jersey, in 1849, where he worked with that city's Mechanics Bank.[12]

Ingham died in Trenton, New Jersey, and is interred in the Solebury Presbyterian Churchyard, Solebury, Pennsylvania. Ingham County, Michigan, one of several Cabinet counties named for members of Jackson's administration, is named in Ingham's honor.

Notes

  1. ^ The most common name, Beaver Meadow Railroad was in fact, formally incorporated as the Beaver Meadow Railroad and Coal Company.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Indian Place Names in Bucks County" (PDF). Lenape Nation – A Tribal Community. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 10, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  2. ^ Ford Stevens Ceasar, The Bicentennial History of Ingham County, Michigan (Ann Arbor: Shaw-Barton, 1976), p. 1
  3. ^ Ceasar, History of Ingham County, p. 1
  4. ^ Ceasar, History of Ingham County, p. 2
  5. ^ Caesar, History of Ingham County, p. 3
  6. ^ a b "Samuel D. Ingham (1829–1831)". US Treasury Department. November 11, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2017. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. ^ Meacham, Jon (2008). American Lion:Andrew Jackson in the White House. Random House Trade Paperbacks. pp. 179-181. ISBN 978-0812973464.
  8. ^ Rathbun, Richard (1904). The Columbian institute for the promotion of arts and sciences: A Washington Society of 1816–1838. Bulletin of the United States National Museum, October 18, 1917. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
  9. ^ The Hopkin Thomas Project (reprinted web excerpts) (1873). "GUIDE-BOOK OF THE LEHIGH VALLEY RAILROAD". a history of the company from its first organization and interesting facts concerning the origin and growth of the coal and iron trade in the Lehigh and Wyoming Region., J.B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ^ John S. Koehler, Historian, Weatherly, Pa. (February 17, 1984). "Beaver Meadow Railroad Blazed Trails for Coal". The Hopkin Thomas Project, Timelines Industrial America (Railroad Portraits, Beaver Meadow Railroad). Retrieved August 12, 2016.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Scott W. Fausti. "Samuel Delucenna Ingham". The Hopkin Thomas Project (Genealogy Portraits, Rev July 2010). Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  12. ^ Ceasar, History of Ingham County, p. 4

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Samuel D. Ingham.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district
Seat A
1813–1818
Served alongside: Robert Brown, Thomas Rogers 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chair of the House Post Office Committee
1815–1818 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district
Seat A
1822–1823
Served alongside: Thomas Rogers 		Succeeded by
Robert Harris
Single seat
New seat Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district
1823–1829
Served alongside: Thomas Rogers, George Wolf 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chair of the House Post Office Committee
1825–1828 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by United States Secretary of the Treasury
1829–1831 		Succeeded by
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