Gallatin, Albert

Gallatin, Albert (1761–1849), born in Switzerland, emigrated to America at the age of 19 and became a frontier political leader, after 1797 being the recognized spokesman for the Republican minority, whose criticism of the Federalist management of the Treasury resulted in the Alien and Sedition acts, partially aimed at him. As Jefferson's secretary of the treasury, he severely curtailed army and navy appropriations, and materially reduced the public debt. He was later blamed for the inadequate preparation of the U.S. for the War of 1812, which he bitterly opposed. He was primarily responsible for the Treaty of Ghent, held the posts of minister to France and minister to England, and upon his retirement founded the bank that bears his name. He wrote The Oregon Question (1846), but considered his most important work to be the Synopsis of the Indian Tribes …of North America (1836), which led to his reputation as “the father of American ethnology.” Henry Adams edited his Writings (3 vols., 1879) and wrote The Life of Albert Gallatin (1879).