William John Duane (May 9, 1780 – September 27, 1865) was an American politician and lawyer from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Duane served a brief term as

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 1833. His refusal to withdraw Federal deposits from the

Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January 1836.. The Bank's formal name, ac ...

led to his dismissal by President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

Early life

Duane was born on May 9, 1780, in

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Duane emigrated to the United States with his parents, William Duane, and Catherine Corcoran in 1796, settling in Philadelphia. He assisted his father in publishing the ''Aurora'', a pro- Jeffersonian Philadelphia newspaper, until 1806. He became an influential lawyer and served several terms in the

Pennsylvania General Assembly The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania ...

, becoming one of the most powerful state politicians in Pennsylvania at the time.

Marriage

He was married on December 31, 1805, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, to Deborah Franklin Bache, who was born on October 1, 1781, in Philadelphia, and died on February 12, 1863, in Philadelphia. His father-in-law was

Richard Bache Richard Bache (September 12, 1737 – April 17, 1811), born in Settle, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, immigrated to Philadelphia, in the colony of Pennsylvania, where he was a businessman, a marine insurance underwriter, and later served as ...

Sr., a marine insurance underwriter and importer in Philadelphia. Bache served as

United States Postmaster General The United States Postmaster General (PMG) is the chief executive officer of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The PMG is responsible for managing and directing the day-to-day operations of the agency. The PMG is selected and appointed by ...

from 1776 to 1782. His mother-in-law was

Sarah Franklin Bache Sarah Franklin Bache (September 11, 1743 – October 5, 1808), sometimes known as Sally Bache, was the daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Deborah Read. She was a leader in relief work during the American Revolutionary War and frequently served as ...

, the daughter of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

Support for Andrew Jackson

Duane supported Jackson for president in 1824 and 1828. He declined appointments to serve as government director of the

and United States District Attorney.

Secretary of the Treasury

In 1833, in the midst of the

Bank War The Bank War was a political struggle that developed over the issue of rechartering the Second Bank of the United States (B.U.S.) during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837). The affair resulted in the shu ...

, President

attempted to remove federal deposits from the Second Bank of the United States, whose money-lending functions were taken over by the legions of local and state banks that materialized across America, thus drastically increasing credit and speculation. Jackson's moves were greatly controversial. He removed his moderately pro-Bank Treasury Secretary

Louis McLane Louis McLane (May 28, 1786 – October 7, 1857) was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware, and Baltimore, Maryland. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, a member of the Federalist Party and later th ...

, having him serve instead as Secretary of State, replacing

Edward Livingston Edward Livingston (May 28, 1764May 23, 1836) was an American jurist and statesman. He was an influential figure in the drafting of the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825, a civil code based largely on the Napoleonic Code. Livingston represented both ...

. On May 29, he replaced McLane with Duane. However, Duane also refused to remove the deposits. As a result, Jackson fired him in September. He replaced him with Attorney General

Roger B. Taney Roger Brooke Taney (; March 17, 1777 – October 12, 1864) was the fifth chief justice of the United States, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. Although an opponent of slavery, believing it to be an evil practice, Taney belie ...

, a strong opponent of the Bank. Under Taney, the deposits began to be removed. Duane defended his own position in his book ''Narrative and Correspondence Concerning the Removal of the Deposites, and Occurrences Connected Therewith'', published in 1838. Jackson biographer

James Parton James Parton (February 9, 1822 – October 17, 1891) was an English-born American biographer who wrote books on the lives of Horace Greeley, Aaron Burr, Andrew Jackson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, and contributed three b ...

heaps high praise upon Duane. He lauds the Treasury Secretary for refusing to yield to a position that he could not in good conscience accept, therefore preserving his integrity and honor. "In not yielding," Parton says, "he displayed a genuine moral heroism." Later Jackson biographer Robert V. Remini treats Duane far less favorably. He faults both Jackson and Duane for the turmoil that characterized Duane's brief time in office. He criticizes Jackson for not adequately screening Duane before nominating him, for allowing members of his administration to treat him poorly upon taking office, and for his dismissal of Duane. He continues: William J

He died on September 27, 1865, in Philadelphia and was interred at

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery is ...

.Founders Online
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References

Bibliography

* * * * Phillips, Kim T. "William Duane, Philadelphia's Democratic Republicans, and the Origins of Modern Politics." ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' (1977): 365–387
online
* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duane, William John 1780 births 1865 deaths 18th-century Irish people 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) 19th-century American politicians 19th-century Irish people Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Editors of Pennsylvania newspapers Franklin family Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Jackson administration cabinet members Members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly Pennsylvania lawyers People from Clonmel Politicians from County Tipperary Politicians from Philadelphia United States Secretaries of the Treasury