Alexander J. Dallas (statesman)
| Alexander J. Dallas | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 6th United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
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In office October 6, 1814 – October 21, 1816 |
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| President | James Madison |
| Preceded by | George W. Campbell |
| Succeeded by | William H. Crawford |
| 1st United States Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions | |
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In office 1790–1800 |
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| Preceded by | (none) |
| Succeeded by | William Cranch |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Alexander James Dallas June 21, 1759 Kingston, Jamaica |
| Died | January 16, 1817 (aged 57) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic-Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Arabella Maria Dallas |
| Profession | Lawyer, Politician |
| Signature |  |
Alexander James Dallas (June 21, 1759 – January 16, 1817) was an American statesman who served as the U.S. Treasury Secretary under President James Madison.
Dallas was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to Dr. Robert Charles Dallas and Sarah Elizabeth (Cormack) Hewitt. When he was five his family moved to Edinburgh and then to London. There he studied under James Elphinston. He planned to study law, but was unable to afford it. He married Arabella Maria Smith of Pennsylvania, the daughter of Maj. George Smith of the British Army and Arabella Barlow (in turn the daughter of the Rev. William Barlow and Arabella Trevanion, the daughter of Sir Nicholas Trevanion), in 1780 and the next year they moved to Jamaica. There he was admitted to the bar through his father's connections. Maria's health suffered in Jamaica and they moved to Philadelphia in 1783. He was admitted to the bar in 1785. His law practice was slow and on the side he edited the Pennsylvania Herald from 1787 to 1788 and the Columbian Magazine from 1787 to 1789.
When the United States Supreme Court came to Philadelphia in 1791, he would become their first reporter of decisions starting with West v. Barnes (1791). Because the post of reporter was an unofficial one, Dallas did his work from his own funds. The volumes, of which he produced only four, were faulted for being incomplete, inaccurate, and extremely tardy. For example, the landmark ruling in Chisholm v. Georgia (1793) which prompted the Eleventh Amendment, was not reported by Dallas until five years later, well after the Amendment had been ratified. When he abandoned reporting of decisions when the Court moved to the new capital, Washington, D.C., he declared "I have found such miserable encouragement for my reports that I have determined to call them all in, and devote them to the rats in the State-House." He was a founder of the Democratic-Republican Societies in 1793.
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