Register of the Treasury

The Register of the Treasury was an officer of the United States Treasury Department. The Register's duties included filing the accounting records of the government, transferring and cancelling federal debt securities, and filing the certificates of US-registered ships.

The signature of the Register of the Treasury was found on almost all United States currency until 1923, along with that of the Treasurer of the United States. Four of the five African Americans whose signatures have appeared on U.S. currency were Registers of the Treasury (Blanche K. Bruce, Judson W. Lyons, William T. Vernon and James C. Napier).[1][2][3]

After Woodrow Wilson appointed an African-American, Adam E. Patterson, for the position in 1917, Southern Senators (including Hoke Smith, James K. Vardaman, and Ben Tillman) expressed their opposition to Patterson on the grounds of his race, also saying they opposed any African-American for an office that would put them above Caucasian women. Patterson quickly withdrew his name, and Wilson appointed Gabe E. Parker, the first white man to hold the position in fifteen years, to the Register of the Treasury, leaving African-Americans dismayed.[4]

In 1919, the office of the Register became the Public Debt Service which, in 1940, became the Bureau of the Public Debt.

Registers of the Treasury

The Treasury had eighteen Registers between 1861 and 1933.[5]

Name Dates served
Lucius E. ChittendenApril 17, 1861 – August 10, 1864
S. B. ColbyAugust 11, 1864 – September 21, 1867
Noah L. JeffriesOctober 5, 1867 – March 15, 1869
John AllisonApril 3, 1869 – March 23, 1878
Glenni William ScofieldApril 1, 1878 – May 20, 1881
Blanche Kelso BruceMay 21, 1881 – June 5, 1885
William Starke RosecransJune 8, 1885 – June 19, 1893
James Fount TillmanJuly 1, 1893 – December 2, 1897
Blanche Kelso BruceDecember 3, 1897 – March 17, 1898
Judson Whitlocke LyonsApril 7, 1898 – April 1, 1906
William Tecumseh VernonJune 11, 1906 – March 14, 1911
James Carroll NapierMarch 15, 1911 – September 30, 1913
Gabe E. ParkerOctober 1, 1913 – December 31, 1914
Houston Benge TeeheeMarch 24, 1915 – November 20, 1919
William S. ElliottNovember 21, 1919 – January 24, 1922
Harley V. SpeelmanJanuary 25, 1922 – September 30, 1927
Walter Orr WoodsOctober 1, 1927 – January 17, 1929
Edward E. JonesJanuary 22, 1929 – May 31, 1933

References
  1. Turkel, Stanley (2005). Heroes of the American Reconstruction: Profiles of Sixteen Educators, Politicians and Activists. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 6. ISBN 0-7864-1943-1. Senator Bruce was also the first black man to preside over the Senate and the first whose signature appeared on all the nation's paper currency (as Register of the Treasury starting on May 18, 1881)
  2. Holden, Henry M. (2006). To Be a U.S. Secret Service Agent. St Paul, Minnesota: Zenith Imprint. p. 90. ISBN 0-7603-2293-7.
  3. "African Americans on Currency". Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Archived from the original on 2007-11-13. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
  4. Harvey, George (1913). "The North American Review". New York City: Franklin Square. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  5. "Registers of the Treasury". USPaperMoney.Info. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
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