(1808–73), U.S. statesman. Born on Jan. 13, 1808, in Cornish, N.H., Samuel P. Chase was an early defender of runaway slaves and continued to promote the abolition of slavery in the United States Senate from 1849. In 1861 he gave up his second term in the Senate to serve as secretary of the treasury under President Abraham Lincoln. He was chief justice of the Supreme Court from 1864 to 1873.