Editing Christopher Memminger

{{Short description|German-born American politician}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2017}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
 | name = Christopher Memminger
 | image = Christopher Memminger (1803-1888), Secretary of Treasury Confederate States of America.jpg{{!}}border
 | order = 1st
 | office = Confederate States Secretary of the Treasury
 | president = [[Jefferson Davis]]
 | term_start = February 25, 1861
 | term_end = July 18, 1864
 | predecessor = Position Established 
 | successor = [[George Trenholm|G. A. Trenholm]]
 | office2 = Deputy from [[South Carolina]]<br />to the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States|Provisional Congress<br />of the Confederate States]]
 | term_start2 = February 4, 1861
 | term_end2 = February 17, 1862
 | predecessor2 = ''New constituency''
 | successor2 = ''Constituency abolished''
 | birth_name = Christoph Gustav Memminger
 | birth_date = {{birth date|1803|1|9}}
 | birth_place = Vaihingen, <!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not change to "Vaihingen an der Enz" or "Nayhingen" as it would be historically and geographically inaccurate. Unfortunately, it is a common mistake that has been oft-repeated through the years. Thank you. --> [[Electorate of Württemberg|Wuerttemberg]] <!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add link to "Holy Roman Empire." Thank you. --> ({{nowrap|present-day}} [[Stuttgart#Geography|Stuttgart-Vaihingen]], <!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not change to "Vaihingen an der Enz" or "Nayhingen," as it would be historically and geographically inaccurate. Unfortunately, it is a common mistake that has been oft-repeated through the years. Thank you. --> [[Germany]])
 | death_date = {{death date and age|1888|3|7|1803|1|9}}
 | death_place = [[Charleston, South Carolina]]
 | resting_place = [[St. John in the Wilderness (Flat Rock, North Carolina)|St. John in the Wilderness]],<br />[[Flat Rock, Henderson County, North Carolina|Flat Rock, North Carolina]]
 | resting_place_coordinates = {{coord|35|16|56.8|N|82|26|34.2|W|region:US-NC_type:landmark|display=inline}}
 | party = [[South Carolina Democratic Party|Democratic]]
 | alma_mater = [[University of South Carolina|South Carolina College]]
}}
'''Christopher Gustavus Memminger''' ({{langx|de|Christoph Gustav Memminger}}; January 9, 1803&nbsp;– March 7, 1888) was a German-born American politician and a secessionist who participated in the formation of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate States]] government. He was the principal author of the [[Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States|Provisional Constitution]] (1861), as well as the founder of the Confederate financial system. As the first [[Confederate States Secretary of the Treasury]], Memminger was the principal author of the economic policies of [[Jefferson Davis]]'s administration.

== Early life and career ==
Christopher Gustavus Memminger was born on January 9, 1803, in Vaihingen, <!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not change to "Vaihingen an der Enz" or "Nayhingen" as it would be historically and geographically inaccurate. Unfortunately, it is a common mistake that has been oft-repeated through the years. Thank you. --> [[Electorate of Württemberg|Wuerttemberg]] <!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add link to "Holy Roman Empire." Thank you. --> (present-day [[Stuttgart#Geography|Stuttgart-Vaihingen]], <!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not change to "Vaihingen an der Enz" or "Nayhingen" as it would be historically and geographically inaccurate. Unfortunately, it is a common mistake that has been oft-repeated through the years. Thank you. --> [[Germany]]). His father, Gottfried Memminger, was a military [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]] who died a month after his son's birth.<ref>{{harvnb|Capers|1893|pp=7–9}}</ref> His mother, Eberhardina ([[née]] Kohler) Memminger, immigrated to [[Charleston, South Carolina]], but died of [[yellow fever]] in 1807. Christopher was placed in an orphanage.<ref>{{harvnb|Patrick|1944|p=205}}</ref> His fortunes changed when, at the age of eleven, he was taken under the care of [[Thomas Bennett, Jr.|Thomas Bennett]], a prominent lawyer and future Governor. He entered [[University of South Carolina|South Carolina College]] at the age of 12 and graduated second in his class at 16. Memminger passed the bar in 1825 and became a successful lawyer. He married Mary Withers Wilkinson in 1832.

He was a leader of the opponents during the [[Nullification Crisis]]. He published ''The Book of Nullification'' (1832–33), which satirized the advocates of the doctrine in biblical style.<ref>{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Memminger, Charles Gustavus|year=1900}}</ref> He entered state politics and served in the [[South Carolina]] state legislature from 1836 to 1852 and 1854 to 1860, where for nearly twenty years he was the head of the finance committee.<ref>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Memminger, Christopher Gustavus|year=1905}}</ref> Memminger was a staunch advocate of education and helped give Charleston one of the most comprehensive public school systems in the country.<ref>{{harvnb|Patrick|1944|pp=205–206}}</ref> In 1859, after [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]]'s raid, he was commissioned by [[South Carolina]] to consult with other delegates in [[Virginia]] as to the best method of warding off attacks of [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]].<ref>{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Memminger, Christopher Gustavus}}</ref>

== Civil War ==
[[File:Confederate Cabinet.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The original [[Confederate States of America#Executive|Confederate Cabinet]]. L-R: [[Judah P. Benjamin]], [[Stephen Mallory]], Christopher Memminger, [[Alexander Stephens]], [[LeRoy Pope Walker]], [[Jefferson Davis]], [[John Henninger Reagan|John H. Reagan]] and [[Robert Toombs]].]]
Memminger was considered a moderate on the [[secession]] issue, but after the election of [[Abraham Lincoln]], he decided that secession was necessary. Memminger owned 12 slaves (six males), listed in his estate in the Charleston, South Carolina, census of 1850. His estate was in Henderson County, North Carolina, where he built his Connemara summer home<ref>U.S. National Park Service, retrieved June 20, 2021 from https://www.nps.gov/carl/learn/historyculture/history-of-connemara.htm</ref>). When South Carolina seceded from the United States in 1860, Memminger was asked to write the [[South Carolina Declaration of Secession]] (officially: ''Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union''), which outlined the reasons for secession. When other states declared secession, he was selected as a South Carolina delegate to the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]]. He was the chair of the committee which drafted the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States. The twelve-man committee produced a provisional constitution in only four days.

When [[Jefferson Davis]] formed his first cabinet, Memminger was appointed Secretary of the Treasury on February 21, 1861. It was a difficult task in view of the Confederacy's financial challenges. He attempted to finance the government initially by bonds and tariffs (and the confiscation of gold from the [[New Orleans Mint|United States Mint]] in [[New Orleans]]). Still, he soon found himself forced to more extreme measures such as [[income taxes]] and [[fiat money|fiat currency]]. He had been a supporter of [[hard currency]] before the war but found himself issuing increasingly-devalued paper money, which had become worth less than 2% of its face value in gold by the end of the war.{{Clear}}

== Later life ==
Memminger resigned as Secretary of the Treasury on July 1, 1864, and was replaced by fellow South Carolinian [[George Trenholm]]. He returned to his summer residence in [[Flat Rock, Henderson County, North Carolina|Flat Rock, North Carolina]]. In the post-war years, he returned to Charleston, received a presidential pardon in 1866, and returned to private law practice and business investment. He also continued his work on developing South Carolina's public education system and was voted to a final term in the state legislature in 1877. Memminger died on March 7, 1888, at age 85, in Charleston, South Carolina.

== Notable works ==
*{{nowrap|''The Book of Nullification'' (1830)}}

== Honors ==
Christopher Memminger was featured on the Confederate [[Confederate States of America dollar|$5.00 bill]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins/printable/coin.cfm?coincode=5_05 |title= Legendary Coins and Currency: Confederacy, 5 dollars, 1862 |publisher= National Museum of American History |access-date= 2011-08-12 |archive-date= March 13, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110313075254/http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins/printable/coin.cfm?coincode=5_05 |url-status= dead }}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="165px">
CSA-T33-$5-1862.jpg|Memminger on the 1862 [[Confederate States dollar|CS$]]5 [[banknote]]
</gallery>

== See also ==
*[[List of German Americans]]
*[[List of orphans and foundlings]]
*[[List of people from Stuttgart]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== References ==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
*{{citation |last= Capers |first= Henry D. |year= 1893 |title= The Life and Times of C. G. Memminger |place= Richmond |publisher= Everett Waddey Co. |lccn= 12030042 |oclc= 4790450 |url= https://archive.org/details/cgmemminger00caperich |via= [[Internet Archive]]}}
*{{citation |last= Patrick |first= Rembert Wallace |year= 1944 |title= Jefferson Davis and His Cabinet |place= Baton Rouge |publisher= Louisiana State University Press |pages= 205–234 |lccn= 44009637 |oclc= 475783}}
*{{citation |last= Schwab |first= John Christopher |year= 1901 |title= The Confederate States of America, 1861-65: A Financial and Industrial History of the South During the Civil War |place= New York |publisher= Charles Scribner's Sons |lccn= 01022093 |oclc= 1612925 |url= https://archive.org/details/confederatestate00schw |via= [[Internet Archive]]}}
{{Div col end}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book |last= Memminger |first= Christopher |year= 1830 |title= The Book of Nullification |place= Charleston |publisher= n.p. |lccn= 07034837 |oclc= 2421630 |url= https://archive.org/details/bookofnullificat00char |via= [[Internet Archive]]}}

== External links ==
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{{Wikisource author|Christopher Gustavus Memminger}}
; Official
* [http://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/00502/ C. G. Memminger Papers] at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]]
; General information
* {{find a Grave|6848173}}
* [https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=12379 Christopher Memminger] at The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org)
* [https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/memminger-christopher Christopher Memminger] at ''South Carolina Encyclopedia'' (scencyclopedia.org)
* [http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/memminger-christopher-gustavus/ Christopher Memminger] at ''NCpedia'' (ncpedia.org)
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mellette-memorial.html#194.50.28 Christopher Memminger] at [[The Political Graveyard]]
* {{Internet Archive author|name=Christopher Memminger}}
<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please follow the [[WP:EL]] guideline where possible and consider discussing on the talk page. Thank you. -->
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Memminger, Christopher}}
[[Category:1803 births]]
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