FESSENDEN, WILLIAM PITT

(1806-1869), American lawyer and statesman; b. in Boscawen, New Hampshire; d. at Portland, Maine. Graduating from Bowdoin College in 1823 he was admitted to the bar in 1827. Entering political life he was elected to the United States Senate by the Whig Party in 1854. A week after he appeared in the Upper House he made a speech against the Kansas and Nebraska Bill which at once placed him in the first rank of orators of that day. During the Civil War he labored to establish the National credit. He was appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1864 and having adjusted the National finances he resigned in 1865 and returned to the Senate.