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Samuel Delucenna Ingham (September 16, 1779 – June 5, 1860) was a state legislator, judge, U.S. Representative and served as U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Andrew Jackson.

Early life and education

Ingham was born in New Hope, Pennsylvania, on September 16, 1779. 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 had 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

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.

Secretary of the Treasury

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] In 1840, Ingham was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.^[9]

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^[11]), of which he was then made president for a time.^[12] 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.^[13]

Ingham died on June 5, 1860, in Trenton, New Jersey, at the age of 80, 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. Ingham Avenue in Trenton, NJ is also named in his honor.^[14]

Notes

References

• United States Congress. "Samuel D. Ingham (id: I000022)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Further reading

• Remini, Robert V. (1967). Andrew Jackson and the Bank War. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 52–59. ISBN 978-0393097573.
• Remini, Robert V. (1991). Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 267–340. ISBN 978-0393030044.
• Kahan, Paul (2016). The Bank War: Andrew Jackson, Nicholas Biddle, and the Fight for American Finance. Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing. pp. 63–84. ISBN 978-1594162343.

External links

• Finding aid to the Samuel D. Ingham correspondence at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries