Philip Francis Thomas (September 12, 1810October 2, 1890) was an American lawyer, mathematician and politician. He served in the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...

, was the 28th

Governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

from 1848 to 1851, and was Comptroller of Maryland from 1851 to 1853. He was appointed as the 23rd

United States Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

in 1860 in the Buchanan administration. After unsuccessfully standing for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

in 1878, he returned to the Maryland House of Delegates, and later resumed the practice of law.

Governor of Maryland

Born in Easton, Maryland, he graduated from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania in 1830. He studied law and became a lawyer in Easton. He was a delegate to the Maryland's constitutional convention in 1836 and a member of the

in 1838, 1843, and 1845. He was elected as a Democrat to the 26th Congress in 1838 from , but declined to run again in 1840. He went back to his law practice, but returned to politics eight years later when he was elected the

28th 28 (twenty-eight) is the natural number following 27 and preceding 29. In mathematics It is a composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 2, 4, 7, and 14. Twenty-eight is the second perfect number - it is the sum of its proper diviso ...

, a position he held through 1851. While Governor, in 1849 he commissioned Maryland's contribution to the

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and th ...

, a marble building stone upon which the colonial Sparrow Seal of Maryland was engraved. From 1851 to 1853, he was Comptroller of Maryland and then collector of the port of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

from 1853 to 1860, and

United States Commissioner of Patents The Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, or USC(IP), is a senior official in the United States Department of Commerce and the principal advisor to the United States Secretary of Commerce on the intellectual property matters. In t ...

for a fragment of that year (February through December).

Secretary of the Treasury

Thomas was appointed

in the Presidential Cabinet of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

James Buchanan and served from December 12, 1860 until his resignation on January 14, 1861. THOMAS, Philip F-Treasury (BEP engraved portrait)

When

Howell Cobb Howell Cobb (September 7, 1815 – October 9, 1868) was an American and later Confederate political figure. A southern Democrat, Cobb was a five-term member of the United States House of Representatives and the speaker of the House from 184 ...

, the 22nd Secretary of the Treasury resigned in 1860, Buchanan appointed Thomas the 23rd Secretary. Thomas reluctantly accepted the position. Immediately upon entering office, Thomas had to market a

bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...

to pay the interest on the

public debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit oc ...

. There was little faith in the stability of the country due to the threat of secession by the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, and war appeared inevitable. Northern bankers refused to invest in Thomas's loan, wary that the money would go to the South. Following Interior Secretary

Jacob Thompson Jacob Thompson (May 15, 1810 – March 24, 1885) was the United States Secretary of the Interior, who resigned on the outbreak of the American Civil War and became the Inspector General of the Confederate States Army. In 1864, Jefferson Davis ...

, Thomas resigned after only a month in response to his failure to obtain the loan.

Later political career

Two years later, he again became a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1863. He presented credentials as a senator-elect to the

for the term beginning March 4, 1867, but was not seated as a person "who had given aid and comfort" to the Confederate cause by way of giving money to his son "to aid him in joining the rebel army." The charge against him was contested in ''

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'' as "partisan intolerance," and in '' The Chicago Times'' as "lawless despotism." He was then elected as a Democrat to the 44th Congress from the 1st Congressional district of Maryland, serving from 1875 to 1877, and declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1876. He holds the record for the longest non-contiguous service within the U.S. House.https://history.house.gov/Institution/Firsts-Milestones/Record-Holders/ He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1878. He returned to the Maryland House of Delegates twice, in 1878 and 1883, and then resumed the practice of law in Easton.

Death and burial

He died in

in 1890 and is buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Easton.

References

External links

Philip Francis Thomas
at the ''

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

'' , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Philip Francis 1810 births 1890 deaths 19th-century American politicians Buchanan administration cabinet members Comptrollers of Maryland Dickinson College alumni Democratic Party governors of Maryland Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates People from Easton, Maryland United States Commissioners of Patents United States Secretaries of the Treasury Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland