Albert Gallatin
Swiss-born finance expert who led House opposition to Hamilton and later served a record twelve years as Treasury Secretary.
Overview
After a brief disputed stint in the Senate, Gallatin represented western Pennsylvania in the House from 1795 to 1801, where he became the leading Democratic-Republican critic of Alexander Hamilton's financial program and a skilled analyst of public debt. As Treasury Secretary from 1801 to 1813, the longest tenure in that office, he reduced the national debt, helped finance the Louisiana Purchase, and planned the embargo. He was the chief US negotiator of the Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812 and later helped found the study of Native American languages and ethnology in America.
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