Christopher Memminger
Christopher Memminger | |
---|---|
1st Confederate States Secretary of the Treasury | |
In office February 25, 1861 – July 18, 1864 | |
President | Jefferson Davis |
Preceded by | Position Established |
Succeeded by | G. A. Trenholm |
Deputy from South Carolina to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States | |
In office February 4, 1861 – February 17, 1862 | |
Preceded by | New constituency |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Christoph Gustav Memminger January 9, 1803 Vaihingen, Wuerttemberg (present-day Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany) |
Died | March 7, 1888 Charleston, South Carolina | (aged 85)
Resting place | St. John in the Wilderness, Flat Rock, North Carolina 35°16′56.8″N 82°26′34.2″W / 35.282444°N 82.442833°W |
Political party | Democratic |
Alma mater | South Carolina College |
Christopher Gustavus Memminger (German: Christoph Gustav Memminger; January 9, 1803 – March 7, 1888) was a German-born American politician and a secessionist who participated in the formation of the Confederate States government. He was the principal author of the Provisional Constitution (1861), as well as the founder of the Confederate financial system. As the first Confederate States Secretary of the Treasury, Memminger was the principal author of the economic policies of Jefferson Davis's administration.
Early life and career
Christopher Gustavus Memminger was born on January 9, 1803, in Vaihingen,
He was a leader of the opponents during the
American Civil War
Memminger was considered a moderate on the secession issue, but after the election of Abraham Lincoln, he decided that secession was necessary. Memminger owned 12 slaves (six males), listed in his estate in the Charleston, South Carolina, census of 1850. His estate was in Henderson County, North Carolina, where he built his Connemara summer home[7]). When South Carolina seceded from the United States in 1860, Memminger was asked to write the South Carolina Declaration of Secession (officially: Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union), which outlined the reasons for secession. When other states declared secession, he was selected as a South Carolina delegate to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States. He was the chair of the committee which drafted the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States. The twelve-man committee produced a provisional constitution in only four days.
When
Later life
Memminger resigned as Secretary of the Treasury on July 1, 1864, and was replaced by fellow South Carolinian George Trenholm. He returned to his summer residence in Flat Rock, North Carolina. In the post-war years, he returned to Charleston, received a presidential pardon in 1866, and returned to private law practice and business investment. He also continued his work on developing South Carolina's public education system and was voted to a final term in the state legislature in 1877. Memminger died on March 7, 1888, at age 85, in Charleston, South Carolina.
Notable works
- The Book of Nullification (1830)
Honors
Christopher Memminger was featured on the Confederate
See also
Notes
- ^ Capers 1893, pp. 7–9
- ^ Patrick 1944, p. 205
- ^ Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
- New International Encyclopedia(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- ^ Patrick 1944, pp. 205–206
- ^ Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). Encyclopedia Americana. .
- ^ U.S. National Park Service, retrieved June 20, 2021 from https://www.nps.gov/carl/learn/historyculture/history-of-connemara.htm
- ^ "Legendary Coins and Currency: Confederacy, 5 dollars, 1862". National Museum of American History. Archived from the original on March 13, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
References
- Capers, Henry D. (1893), The Life and Times of C. G. Memminger, Richmond: Everett Waddey Co., OCLC 4790450 – via Internet Archive
- Patrick, Rembert Wallace (1944), Jefferson Davis and His Cabinet, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, pp. 205–234, OCLC 475783
- Schwab, John Christopher (1901), The Confederate States of America, 1861-65: A Financial and Industrial History of the South During the Civil War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, OCLC 1612925 – via Internet Archive
Further reading
- Memminger, Christopher (1830). The Book of Nullification. Charleston: n.p. OCLC 2421630 – via Internet Archive.
External links
- Official
- General information
- Christopher Memminger at Find a Grave
- Christopher Memminger at The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org)
- Christopher Memminger at South Carolina Encyclopedia (scencyclopedia.org)
- Christopher Memminger at NCpedia (ncpedia.org)
- Christopher Memminger at The Political Graveyard
- Works by or about Christopher Memminger at Internet Archive