Gallatin, << GAL uh tihn, >> Albert (1761-1849), was a prominent American statesman and diplomat. He served as secretary of the treasury under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
Gallatin was born on Jan. 29, 1761, and educated in Geneva, Switzerland. He immigrated to the United States in 1780. In 1790, Gallatin was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature. In 1793, he won election to the U.S. Senate. Gallatin was forced to leave the Senate in 1794 after his political opponents claimed that he had not been a U.S. citizen long enough to qualify for a Senate seat. Later in 1794, Gallatin was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He served in the House until 1801, when Jefferson appointed him secretary of the treasury.
As treasury secretary, Gallatin worked to eliminate the national debt. But in 1807, during fighting between the United Kingdom and France, Congress halted foreign trade in order to maintain American neutrality. These trade restrictions and—later—the War of 1812 had a disastrous effect on the American economy and thus prevented Gallatin from eliminating the debt. In 1813, Gallatin took a leave of absence and went to Russia to try to work out a peace agreement with the United Kingdom. He officially resigned as treasury secretary in 1814. Also in 1814, Gallatin helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812. He later served as minister to France and as minister to the United Kingdom. He died on Aug. 13, 1849.
