US Attorney and Secretary of Treasury
In 1801, he was named United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and served until 1814. When his friend Albert Gallatin was treasury secretary when the War of 1812 began, he helped Gallatin obtain funds to fight Britain. The war nearly bankrupted the Federal Government by the time Dallas replaced Gallatin as treasury secretary. Dallas reorganized the Treasury Department, brought the government budget back into surplus, championed the creation of the Second Bank of the United States, and put the nation back on the specie system.
Read more about this topic: Alexander J. Dallas (statesman)
Famous quotes containing the words attorney, secretary and/or treasury:
“I always was of opinion that the placing a youth to study with an attorney was rather a prejudice than a help.... The only help a youth wants is to be directed what books to read, and in what order to read them.”
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—Anne Bogan, U.S. executive secretary. As quoted in Working, book 1, by Studs Terkel (1973)
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