George S. Boutwell

Who was George S. Boutwell?

George Sewall Boutwell was an American statesman who served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Ulysses S. Grant, the 20th Governor of Massachusetts, a Senator and Representative from Massachusetts and the first Commissioner of Internal Revenue under President Abraham Lincoln.

Boutwell, an abolitionist, is primarily known for his leadership in the formation of the Republican Party, and his championship of African American citizenship and suffrage rights during Reconstruction. Boutwell, as U.S. Representative, was instrumental in the passage and construction of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Secretary of Treasury Boutwell made much needed reforms in the Treasury Department after the chaos of the American Civil War and the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. Secretary Boutwell controversially reduced the national debt by selling Treasury gold and using greenbacks to buy up Treasury bonds. This process created a shortage of much needed cash for farmers in the Western states and territories. Secretary Boutwell and President Grant thwarted an attempt to corner the gold market in September 1869 by releasing $4,000,000 of gold into the economy. Boutwell, as U.S. Senator, successfully sponsored the Civil Rights Act of 1875, signed into law by President Grant.