Secretary of The Treasury
Morrill was appointed Treasury Secretary by President Ulysses S. Grant; having served from 1876 to 1877 and for five days under President Rutherford B. Hayes. His appointment was in part due to the resignation of previous reformer Sec. Benjamin Bristow who successfully prosecuted and shut down the notorious Whiskey Ring scandal. Bristow resigned due to friction between himself and President Grant over Bristow's zealous reforming in the Treasury Department and potential Presidential run in 1876. Sec. Morrill, upon his assumption to office, was in charge of all the top secret and confidential files left over during Bristow's Whiskey Ring prosecutions. Although Sec. Morrill did not have the reputation of a financial authority, he was believed to have political integrity and would run the department as good as George S. Boutwell, Grant's first Treasury Secretary. Morrill upon his appointment submission by President Grant was immediately approved by the Senate without question. Morrill's appointment was popularly received by the press and Wall Street. Morrill's resignation from the Senate caused a vacancy whom Gov. Seldon Connor filled by appointing Morrill's rival James G. Blaine as Maine's Senator.
Read more about this topic: Lot M. Morrill
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