Fessenden, William Pitt (1806-1869)

US lawyer, representative, and senator. He was admitted to the bar and went to the House of Representatives as a Whig for Maine. He then became one of the founders of the Republican Party and went to the Senate, where President Lincoln appointed him secretary of the treasury. He returned to the Senate as a Republican for Maine.

He was born in Boscawen, New Hampshire. He was a strong opponent of slavery and, as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, he was a staunch proponent of fiscal responsibility, arguing for taxes if necessary to support the Union forces. As secretary of the treasury, he continued his conservative fiscal policies, and, as chairman of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, he supported severe treatment of the defeated South and opposed President Andrew Johnson and his policies. But as a man of principle and law, Fessenden was convinced that Johnson had been impeached (1868) for political motives and so voted ‘not guilty’ after the trial, even though it led to him being attacked by his party and constituents.