|
Dromo's Den
|
|
[Up] [Dromo's Den] John Sherman Biography SHERMAN,
John (1823-1900). An American statesman, born at Lancaster Ohio. He was
admitted to the bar in 1844 and settled at Mansfield, Ohio. He was a member of
Congress (1855-77), first in the House and after 1861 in the Senate. His
familiarity with public affairs made him an influential member from the first.
He took a prominent part in securing the passage of
the Morrill Tariff Act of 1860. Sherman was made chairman of the Ways and Means
Committee of the House in 1859 and did much constructive work in finance. In the
Senate he was chairman of the Finance Committee and conspicuous in the advocacy
of the issue of legal-tender currency during the Civil War and of the bill to
establish a national banking system.
He was the author of the Refunding Act of 1870 and carried through the
resolution announcing the purpose of the government to resume the payment of its
obligations in specie at an early date. In 1877 he retired from the Senate to
become Secretary of the Treasury under President Hayes.
He succeeded in accumulating a redemption fund in the Treasury and kept the
government's promise to resume specie payments Jan. 1, 1879.
In 1881 Sherman returned to the Senate, where he served until 1897. In
1880, 1884, and 1888 he was a candidate for the Republican presidential
nomination. He was the author of the important Statute of 1890 known as the
Sherman Silver Law, providing for the monthly purchase of silver bullion by the
government and the issuing of Treasury notes based upon it.
He was responsible also for the notable act of the same year known as the
Sherman Antitrust Law (q.v.), forbidding combinations in restraint of trade or
commerce among the States. In 1897 be resigned from the Senate to become
Secretary of State in the cabinet of President McKinley.
On account of advanced age and infirmities he resigned shortly after the
outbreak of the war with Spain in 1898 and retired to private life. He died on
Oct. 22, 1900. Consult: Bronson, Life and
Public Services of John Sherman (Columbus, 1880); Senator
Sherman's Reminiscences (New York, 1895); his Life
by T. E. Burton (1906). Some of his correspondence with his brother Gen.
W. T. Sherman was edited by R. S. Thorndike in a volume published in New
York in 1896. Consult Fleming, General W.
T. Sherman as College President (Cleveland, 1914). |