* He played a leading role in shaping the country's financial system during and after the Civil War, and is considered one of the most influential figures in American legal history.
* Chase was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, in 1808.
* He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1826 and practiced law in Ohio before entering politics.
* He served in the U.S. Senate from 1849 to 1855 and was Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln from 1861 to 1864.
* As Chief Justice, Chase presided over several important cases, including Ex parte Milligan (1866), which limited the government's power to detain civilians during wartime, and Slaughter-House Cases (1873), which defined the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment.
*Chase died in New York City in 1873.