Albert Gallatin – Washington, DC
Posted by: Groundspeak Charter Member BruceS
N 38° 53.913 W 077° 02.060
18S E 323584 N 4307485
Statue of former US Senator, Secretary of Treasury and Ambassador, located at the north entrance to the Treasury Building in Washington, DC.
Waymark Code: WMNZ19
Location: District of Columbia, United States
Date Posted: 05/26/2015
Views: 13

Standing portrait of Gallatin, looking off to his proper left. He wears knee britches, a waistcoat, and a long cloak draped over his shoulders. He holds his three-cornered hat on his proper left side at his waist. The sculpture rests atop a rectangular granite base in the front courtyard entrance of the Treasury building...

The memorial was authorized by Congress on January 11, 1927 and responsibility for the installation of the memorial was placed with the Albert Gallatin Memorial Fund Commission. By 1934 enough funds had been raised, but the memorial was delayed by the U.S. Fine Arts Commission's approval of a suitable model. By the time the model was ready to be cast, WWII had created a ban on the non-war use of bronze. Before installation in the north courtyard of the Treasury, a fountain had to be removed. Finally the sculpture was installed and dedicated on October 15, 1947.



The larger-than-life sized bronze statue of Albert Gallatin was sculpted by James Fraser. The statue stands on a polished granite base with the following inscription:

ALBERT GALLATIN
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
GENIUS OF FINANCE
SENATOR AND REPRESENTATIVE
COMMISSIONER FOR THE TREATY OF GHENT
MINISTER TO FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN
AND STEADFAST
CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY
1761-1849


Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849) was a Swiss-American politician, diplomat, ethnologist and linguist. He served as a Congressman, Senator, United States Ambassador and was the longest-serving United States Secretary of the Treasury. In 1831, he founded the University of the City of New York, now New York University.

Born in Geneva in present-day Switzerland, Gallatin immigrated to America in the 1780s, ultimately settling in Pennsylvania. He was politically active against the Federalist Party program, and was elected to the United States Senate in 1793. However, he was removed from office by a 14–12 party-line vote after a protest raised by his opponents suggested he did not meet the required nine years of citizenship.

Two years later, he was elected to the House of Representatives and served in the fourth through sixth Congresses. He was an important member of the new Democratic-Republican Party, its chief spokesman on financial matters, and led opposition to many of the policy proposals of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. He also helped found the House Committee on Finance (later the Ways and Means Committee) and often engineered withholding of finances by the House as a method of overriding executive actions to which he objected.

Gallatin's mastery of public finance, an ability rare among members of the Jeffersonian party, led to his automatic choice as Secretary of the Treasury by Thomas Jefferson despite Federalist attacks that he was a "foreigner" with a French accent. He was secretary from 1801 until February 1814 under presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the longest tenure of this office in American history.

Declining another term at the Treasury, from 1816 to 1823 Gallatin served as United States Minister to France, struggling with scant success to improve relations with the government during the Bourbon Restoration.

Gallatin returned to America and in the election of 1824 was nominated for Vice President by the Democratic-Republican Congressional caucus that had chosen William H. Crawford as its Presidential candidate. Gallatin never wanted the role and was humiliated when he was forced to withdraw from the race because he lacked popular support.

In 1826 and 1827, he served as United States Minister to Great Britain and negotiated several useful agreements, such as a ten-year extension of the joint occupation of Oregon.

Gallatin then settled in New York City, where he helped found New York University in 1831, in order to offer university education to the working and merchant classes as well as the wealthy. He became president of the National Bank in New York City from 1831 until 1839.

His last great endeavor was founding the American Ethnological Society in 1842 and serving as its president until 1848. With his studies of the languages of Native Americans, he has been called "the father of American ethnology."

At his death in 1849, Gallatin was the last surviving member of the Jefferson Cabinet and the last surviving Senator from the 18th century.

Wikipedia
TITLE: Albert Gallatin

ARTIST(S): James Fraser

DATE: Completed 1941. Dedicated October 15, 1947.

MEDIUM: Sculpture: bronze, painted; Base: polished granite.

CONTROL NUMBER: AS 61640001

Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link]

PHYSICAL LOCATION:
U.S. Treasury Building North Entrance 15th Street & Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, District of Columbia


DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH:
None noted


Visit Instructions:
Please give the date of your visit, your impressions of the sculpture, and at least ONE ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH. Add any additional information you may have, particularly any personal observations about the condition of the sculpture.
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