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Alexander J. Dallas (statesman)
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Alexander J. Dallas
Alexander J. Dallas.jpg
6th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office
October 6, 1814 October 21, 1816
President James Madison
Preceded by George W. Campbell
Succeeded by William H. Crawford
1st United States Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions
In office
17901800
Preceded by (none)
Succeeded by William Cranch
Personal details
Born Alexander James Dallas
June 21, 1759
Kingston, Jamaica
Died January 16, 1817 (aged 57)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party Democratic-Republican
Spouse(s) Arabella Maria Dallas
Profession Lawyer, Politician
Signature

Alexander James Dallas (June 21, 1759 January 16, 1817) was an American statesman
who served as the U.S. Treasury Secretary under President James Madison.[1]

Contents

1 Early life
2 US Supreme Court Reporter
3 Secretary of the Commonwealth
4 US Attorney and Secretary of Treasury
5 Acting Secretary of War and Acting Secretary of State
6 Honors
7 See also
8 Notes
9 External links

Early life

Dallas was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to Dr. Robert Charles Dallas and Sarah
Elizabeth (Cormack) Hewitt. When he was five his family moved to Edinburgh and then
to London. There he studied under James Elphinston. He planned to study law, but
was unable to afford it. He married Arabella Maria Smith of Pennsylvania, the
daughter of Maj. George Smith of the British Army and Arabella Barlow (in turn the
daughter of the Rev. William Barlow and Arabella Trevanion, the daughter of Sir
Nicholas Trevanion), in 1780 and the next year they moved to Jamaica. There he was
admitted to the bar through his father's connections. Maria's health suffered in
Jamaica and they moved to Philadelphia in 1783. He was admitted to the bar in 1785.
His law practice was slow and on the side he edited the Pennsylvania Herald from
1787 to 1788 and the Columbian Magazine from 1787 to 1789.
US Supreme Court Reporter

When the United States Supreme Court came to Philadelphia in 1791, he would become
their first reporter of decisions starting with West v. Barnes (1791). Because the
post of reporter was an unofficial one, Dallas did his work from his own funds. The
volumes, of which he produced only four, were faulted for being incomplete,
inaccurate, and extremely tardy. For example, the landmark ruling in Chisholm v.
Georgia (1793) which prompted the Eleventh Amendment, was not reported by Dallas
until five years later, well after the Amendment had been ratified. When he
abandoned reporting of decisions when the Court moved to the new capital,
Washington, D.C., he declared "I have found such miserable encouragement for my
reports that I have determined to call them all in, and devote them to the rats in
the State-House." He was a founder of the Democratic-Republican Societies in 1793.
Secretary of the Commonwealth

Governor Thomas Mifflin named Dallas Secretary of the Commonwealth, a post he held
from 1791 to 1801. Because Mifflin was an alcoholic, Dallas functioned as de facto
governor for much of the late 1790s. Dallas helped found the Democratic-Republican
party in Pennsylvania and advocated a strict construction of the new Constitution.
US Attorney and Secretary of Treasury
Bureau of Engraving and Printing portrait of Dallas as Secretary of the Treasury.
Bureau of Engraving and Printing portrait of Dallas as Secretary of the Treasury.

In 1801, he was named United States Attorney for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania and served until 1814. His friend Albert Gallatin was treasury
secretary when the War of 1812 began and Dallas 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 based on gold and silver.[2]
Acting Secretary of War and Acting Secretary of State

From March 2, 1815 to August 1, 1815 he was acting Secretary of War and for a time
that year was acting Secretary of State as well. He returned to Philadelphia, but
lived only a year.

He was a member of the American Philosophical Society from 1791 and a trustee of
the University of Pennsylvania.
Honors

Dallas County, Alabama and Dallas Township, Pennsylvania are named for him. Six
U.S. Coast Guard Cutters have been named DALLAS, the most recent was USCGC DALLAS
(WHEC-716). Fort Dallas in Florida and the U.S. Navy ship USS Dallas (DD-199) were
named after his son, Alexander J. Dallas, who died during his Navy service.

His other son George Mifflin Dallas was Vice President under James K. Polk and one
possible namesake for Dallas, Texas; his father and brother are other possible
namesakes of the Texas city.

His daughter, Sophia Burrell Dallas, married on April 4, 1805 Richard Bache, Jr.,
the son of Richard Bache, Sr. a marine insurance underwriter and importer in
Philadelphia who served as United States Postmaster General from 1776 to 1782.
See also
[icon] This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2017)
Notes
Raymond Walters, Jr. Alexander James Dallas Lawyer, Politician, Financier, 1759-
1817 (1943).
 Raymond Walters Jr, "The origins of the Second Bank of the United States."
Journal of Political Economy 53.2 (1945): 115-131. online

External links
Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclopdia Britannica article about
Alexander J. Dallas (statesman).

Biography and portrait at the University of Pennsylvania

Alexander J. Dallas at Find a Grave
Alexander J. Dallas (1815 - 1815): Secretary of War

Legal offices
Preceded by
(none) United States Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions
1790 1800 Succeeded by
William Cranch
Political offices
Preceded by
George W. Campbell U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Served under: James Madison
18141816 Succeeded by
William H. Crawford
[show]

v t e

United States Secretaries of the Treasury

[show]

v t e

Cabinet of President James Madison (180917)

[show]

v t e

Municipalities and communities of Dallas County, Alabama, United States

Authority control

WorldCat Identities VIAF: 71438454 LCCN: n84136200 ISNI: 0000 0000 8392 6781
BNF: cb12205007d (data)

Categories:

United States Secretaries of the TreasuryUnited States Attorneys for the

Eastern District of PennsylvaniaReporters of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the
United StatesBritish emigrants to the United StatesPeople from Kingston,
JamaicaPennsylvania lawyersUniversity of PennsylvaniaAlumni of the University of
Edinburgh1759 births1817 deathsMadison administration cabinet members19th-century
American politicians

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