Philip Francis Thomas
Philip Thomas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 1st district | |
| In office March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877 | |
| Preceded by | Ephraim King Wilson II |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Henry |
| 23rd United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
| In office December 12, 1860 – January 14, 1861 | |
| President | James Buchanan |
| Preceded by | Howell Cobb |
| Succeeded by | John Adams Dix |
| 28th Governor of Maryland | |
| In office January 3, 1848 – January 6, 1851 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Pratt |
| Succeeded by | Enoch Louis Lowe |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 2nd district | |
| In office March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1841 | |
| Preceded by | James Pearce |
| Succeeded by | James Pearce |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Philip Francis Thomas September 12, 1810 Easton, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | October 2, 1890 (aged 80) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Sarah Kerr Clintonia Wright May |
| Education | Dickinson College (BA) |
Philip Francis Thomas (September 12, 1810 – October 2, 1890) was an American lawyer and politician. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates and was the 28th Governor of Maryland from 1848 to 1851. He was appointed as the 23rd United States Secretary of the Treasury in 1860 in the Buchanan administration. After unsuccessfully standing for the United States Senate in 1878, he returned to the Maryland House of Delegates, and later resumed the practice of law.
Governor of Maryland[]
Born in Easton, Maryland, he graduated from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania in 1830. He studied law and became a lawyer in Easton. He was a delegate to the Maryland's constitutional convention in 1836 and a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1838, 1843, and 1845. He was elected as a Democrat to the 26th Congress in 1838 from the 2nd Congressional district of Maryland, but declined to run again in 1840. He went back to his law practice, but returned to politics eight years later when he was elected the 28th Governor of Maryland, a position he held through 1851. While Governor, in 1849 he commissioned Maryland's contribution to the Washington Monument,[1] a marble building stone upon which the colonial Sparrow Seal of Maryland[2] was engraved.[3]
From 1851 to 1853, he was Comptroller of Maryland and then collector of the port of Baltimore from 1853 to 1860, and United States Commissioner of Patents for a fragment of that year (February through December).[4]
Secretary of the Treasury[]
He was appointed United States Secretary of the Treasury in the Presidential Cabinet of President James Buchanan and served from December 12, 1860 to January 14, 1861.[4]
When Howell Cobb, the 22nd Secretary of the Treasury resigned in 1860, Buchanan appointed Thomas the 23rd Secretary. Thomas reluctantly accepted the position. Immediately upon entering office, Thomas had to market a bond to pay the interest on the public debt. There was little faith in the stability of the country due to the threat of secession by the Southern United States, and war appeared inevitable. Northern bankers refused to invest in Thomas's loan, wary that the money would go to the South. Following Interior Secretary Jacob Thompson, Thomas resigned after only a month in response to his failure to obtain the loan.[4]
Later political career[]
Two years later, he again became a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1863. He presented credentials as a Senator-elect to the United States Senate for the term beginning March 4, 1867, but was not seated as a person "who had given aid and comfort" to the Confederate cause by way of giving money to his son "to aid him in joining the rebel army."[5] The charge against him was contested in The New York Times as "partisan intolerance," and in The Chicago Times as "lawless despotism."[5] He was then elected as a Democrat to the 44th Congress from the 1st Congressional district of Maryland, serving from 1875 to 1877, and declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1876.[6]
He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1878. He returned to the Maryland House of Delegates twice, in 1878 and 1883, and then resumed the practice of law in Easton.[6]
Death and burial[]
He died in Baltimore in 1890 and is buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Easton.[6]
References[]
- ^ "The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware on June 8, 1923 · 6". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
- ^ "Sparrow Seal, Maryland State Archives". msa.maryland.gov. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
- ^ "Photo Gallery (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Marshall, Thomas M. (1919). "Diary and Memoranda of William L. Marcy, 1857". The American Historical Review. 24 (4): 641–653. doi:10.1086/ahr/24.4.641.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Russ, William (1933). "Disenfranchisement In Maryland (1861- 1867)" (PDF). Maryland Historical Magazine. 28: 323.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "Thomas, Philip Francis". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
External links[]
- United States Congress. "Philip Francis Thomas (id: T000182)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Philip Francis Thomas at the United States Department of the Treasury
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- 1810 births
- 1890 deaths
- 19th-century American politicians
- Buchanan administration cabinet members
- Comptrollers of Maryland
- Dickinson College alumni
- Governors of Maryland
- Members of the Maryland House of Delegates
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland
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