Appointed by President William Henry Harrison as his Secretary of the Treasury, he was also retained as secretary of interior by John Tyler after Harrison's death. As a Senator, Ewing advocated rechartering the Second Bank of the United States and had denounced President Jackson's removal of government deposits.

Full Name: Thomas Ewing

Birth Date & Place: December 28, 1789 in West Liberty, Va. (West Virginia)

Schooling: Eldest sister Sarah taught him to read
Attended Ohio University at Athens

Lived: West Virginia
Athens and Lancaster, Ohio

Death: June 15, 1871 in Nashville, Tennessee

March 1841: Appointed Secretary of the Treasury under William Henry Harrison.

• Advocated the rechartering of the Second Bank of the United States and denounced President Jackson's removal of government deposits.
• Asked to devise a new depository for the government's funds; introduced several options, including bills for a new national bank.
• John Tyler thwarted his plan for organizing a central bank to replace the Independent Treasury System, maintaining that it was unconstitutional for the Treasury Department to authorize bank branches in the states withough their consent.

1849: President Taylor appointed Ewing Secretary of the newly created Department of Interior. In a report to Congress he urged the construction of a railroad to the Pacific.

1860: Appointed as a member of the famous Peace Conference, where he was prominent in the effort to avoid the secession of the Southern states.

1868: Nominated as Secretary of War; never confirmed.

In order to earn enough money for college, Ewing left home at 19 to work in the Kanawha salt establishments. He studied at night by the light of a furnace fire.

As an Ohio Senator from 1831-1837, Ewing worked closely with Daniel Webster and Henry Clay to support Whig policies against Andrew Jackson. He upheld Clay's protective tariff system.

"There can be no contraband of war between neutral points."

www.treas.gov/offices/management/curator/collection

www.newadvent.org/cathen/05672b.htm