William Adams Richardson (November 2, 1821 – October 19, 1896) was an American lawyer who served as the 29th United States secretary of the treasury from 1873 to 1874. During his tenure, the Panic of 1873 swept the nation and caused a depression that lasted five years. He controversially responded by issuing $26 million in greenbacks, which averted the crisis, although there was debate as to whether he had the authority to do so. His tenure was marred by the Sanborn incident in 1874, which involved favoritism and profiteering in the collection of unpaid taxes. He was later appointed a judge, and subsequently the chief justice, of the United States Court of Claims.
Education and career
Born on November 2, 1821, in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, Richardson studied at Pinkerton Academy and Lawrence Academy at Groton. Richardson received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1843, and an Artium Magister degree in 1846, both from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Laws in 1846 from Harvard Law School.
Richardson entered private practice in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1846. Massachusetts from 1852 to 1853. He was appointed to revise the statutes of Massachusetts in 1855, and subsequently chosen by the legislature to edit the annual supplements of the general statutes, which he continued to do for 22 years. Richardson responded by controversially releasing $26,000,000 in paper money reserves in an inflationist measure to help alleviate the effects of the general panic.
Other service
Concurrent with his federal judicial service, Richardson was the editor of the Supplement to the Revised Statutes of the United States from 1874 to 1891, as well as a professor of law at Georgetown Law from 1879 to 1894.