William Adams Richardson

:"This article is about the United States Secretary of the Treasury. For the Illinois senator, see William Alexander Richardson."Infobox US Cabinet official
name=William Adams Richardson


order=29th
title=United States Secretary of the Treasury
term_start=March 17, 1873
term_end=June 3, 1874
predecessor=George S. Boutwell
successor=Benjamin Bristow
birth_date=birth date|1821|11|2|mf=y
birth_place=Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, U.S.
death_date=death date and age|1896|10|19|1821|11|2
death_place=Washington D.C., U.S.
party=Republican
spouse=
profession=Politician, Lawyer

William Adams Richardson (b. November 2, 1821 – d. October 19, 1896) was an American judge and politician.

Born in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, he graduated from Pinkerton Academy and Harvard University in 1843. cite book
last = Hackett
first = Frank W.
title = A Sketch of the Life and Public Service of William Adams Richardson
publisher = Private
date = 1898
location = Washington
pages = pp. 19
url = http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC00408021&id=ygwqPYK0hxcC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=#PPA19,M1 ] He earned his LL.B. from Harvard in 1846, and was a professor at Georgetown Law School from 1879-1894. [cite book| title=The United States Court of Claims : a history / pt. 1. The judges, 1855-1976 / by Marion T. Bennett / pt. 2. Origin, development, jurisdiction, 1855-1978 / W. Cowen, P. Nichols, M.T. Bennett.| location=Washington, D.C.| publisher=Committee on the Bicentennial of Independence and the Constitution of the Judicial Conference of the United States| year=1976 ]

In 1873 he was appointed United States Secretary of the Treasury by President Ulysses S. Grant. He had served as an Assistant Treasury Secretary under his predecessor, George S. Boutwell. He served one year, from 1873 until 1874.

The post-war economy had expanded so quickly that commercial banks became nervous and began calling in their loans. As a result, in the summer of 1873 the money supply tightened drastically, causing the Panic of 1873. Richardson responded by issuing $26 million in greenbacks to meet the demand. The legality of his action was doubtful, but the Congress did not interfere and the crisis was eased. Such cycles of expansion and panic continued for the next thirty years, however, and were the basis for the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.

In his last months in office Richardson became embroiled in the "Sanborn Incident."

After leaving the Treasury, Richardson was appointed by Grant to serve as a Justice and Chief Justice of the United States Court of Claims from 1874 until his death in Washington, DC, in 1896.

References

Further reading

*Hackett, Frank Warren, "Sketch of the Life and Public Services of William Adams Richardson", Washington D.C., 1898.

External links

* [http://www.ustreas.gov/education/history/secretaries/warichardson.html Biography of William Adams Richardson at the Department of the Treasury]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=XLTyEOhx8rMC&printsec=titlepage&dq=william+adams+richardson Practical information concerning the public debt of the United States: with the national banking laws] by William Adams Richardson.