Alexander J. Dallas (statesman)

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Alexander James Dallas (June 21, 1759 – January 16, 1817) was an American statesman who served as the sixth United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1814 to 1816 under President James Madison. For part of 1815 he also acted as United States Secretary of War and, for a time that year, as Secretary of State.

Dallas was born in Kingston, Jamaica. His family moved to Edinburgh and then London when he was young. He studied with the Scottish educator James Elphinston but could not afford to pursue law. He married Arabella Maria Smith in 1780. The couple moved to Jamaica briefly before settling in Philadelphia in 1783, where Dallas was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1785.

He worked as a journalist, editing the Pennsylvania Herald and the Columbian Magazine. He published important early volumes of Pennsylvania and United States court decisions, helping to establish the tradition of legal reporting.

Dallas helped found the Democratic-Republican Societies in 1793 and served as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1791 to 1801, effectively acting as governor at times when the governor was unavailable. In 1801 he became United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a position he held until 1814.

During the War of 1812, he assisted Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin in funding the war. When he became Secretary of the Treasury in 1814, he reorganized the department, helped restore the federal budget to a surplus, supported the creation of the Second Bank of the United States, and helped move the nation back toward a gold-and-silver standard.

After his government service, Dallas returned to Philadelphia and died there in 1817 at age 57. His legacy lives on in places named for him, including Dallas County, Alabama, and Dallas Township in Pennsylvania. His son George Mifflin Dallas became Vice President under James K. Polk, and his daughter Sophia Burrell Dallas married Richard Bache Jr., linking the family to Benjamin Franklin. Dallas was a member of the American Philosophical Society and a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania.