John Sherman (May 10, 1823 – October 22, 1900) was an American
congressman and
senator from
Ohio during the
Civil War and into the late nineteenth century. He was the principal author of the
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which was signed into law by President
Benjamin Harrison. His brothers included General
William Tecumseh Sherman, Judge
Charles Taylor Sherman and banker
Hoyt Sherman. As a
Republican senator, he worked on legislation to restore the nation's credit abroad and produce a stable, gold-backed currency at home. Serving as
Secretary of the Treasury in the administration of
Rutherford B. Hayes, Sherman helped to end wartime inflationary measures and to oversee the law allowing dollars to be redeemed for gold. He returned to the Senate after his term expired, continuing his work on financial legislation, as well as writing and debating laws on
immigration,
business competition law and
interstate commerce. In 1897, he was appointed
Secretary of State by President
William McKinley, but, due to failing health, he retired in 1898, at the start of the
Spanish–American War.
This picture is a line engraving of Sherman, produced around 1902 by the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), as part of a BEP presentation album of the first 42 secretaries of the treasury.Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva