Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin

Saturday, January 01, 1842

Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin was born in Switzerland in 1761 and immigrated to the United States in 1780. Gallatin was a politician and leader who was elected to the House of Representatives in 1795 where he initiated the House Committee on Finance (Ways and Means Committee). Gallatin also served as the fourth U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1801-1814 where he played a key role in reducing the national debt, negotiating an end to the War of 1812, funding the Louisiana Purchase, and planning the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Gallatin was a strong advocate for education and Native American rights, and co-founded the American Ethnological Society in 1842.