Proposed As U.S. Secretary of The Treasury
In March 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant offered Stewart the position of Secretary of the Treasury (after Joseph Seligman had declined it), but he was not confirmed by the United States Senate. One source reports that a major impediment to Stewart's appointment was a provision in the act of September 2, 1789, which established the Treasury Department. This law provided that the Treasury Department, having the administration of the custom houses under its control, should not have at its head a merchant or importer in active business. Although Grant requested the two houses of Congress to override this provision, upon the objection of Charles Sumner this request was not considered in the Senate. Another source attributes Stewart's rejection to his close association with Judge Henry Hilton, his wife's cousin's husband and a member of the corrupt Tweed Ring.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Turney Stewart
Famous quotes containing the words proposed, secretary and/or treasury:
“It looks as if we may be presented with a kind of vast municipal fire station.... What is proposed is like a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much loved and elegant friend.”
—Charles, Prince Of Wales (b. 1948)
“The truth is, the whole administration under Roosevelt was demoralized by the system of dealing directly with subordinates. It was obviated in the State Department and the War Department under [Secretary of State Elihu] Root and me [Taft was the Secretary of War], because we simply ignored the interference and went on as we chose.... The subordinates gained nothing by his assumption of authority, but it was not so in the other departments.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“The treasury of America lies in those ambitions and those energies that cannot be restricted to a special, favored class. It depends upon the inventions of unknown men; upon the originations of unknown men, upon the ambitions of unknown men. Every country is renewed out of the ranks of the unknown, not out of the ranks of those already famous and powerful and in control.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)