Albert Gallatin
Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin (* January 29, 1761 in Geneva, † August 12, 1849 in Astoria (now part of Queens ), New York ) was an American politician ( Democratic- Republican), ethnologist, linguist and diplomat.
Life
Albert Gallatin a family from Switzerland, whose members came from, inter alia, also in the judiciary and the military high positions occupied. His father was a wealthy merchant, but died early in 1765 and the mother 1770. In 1779 Gallatin successfully completed his studies at the University of Geneva from and emigrated a year later, first to Massachusetts, where he relocated in 1784 to Pennsylvania. From 1790 to 1792 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. In 1793 he was elected to the Senate, but his office was unable to start because it is not long enough had the American nationality.
Gallatin was Treasury of the United States from 1801 to 1809 under President Thomas Jefferson, and from 1809 to 1814 under President James Madison. During his tenure he ensured a balanced budget, which it eg allowed to purchase Louisiana from France ( Louisiana Purchase → ) without having to raise taxes. From 1816 to 1823 he was an American envoy to France.
As anthropologist Gallatin primarily dealt with the language and culture of the Native Americans, especially the Cherokee. He also studied the languages of the northern and the southern Athabaskan and found that both languages are related to each other and thus must have the same origin. 1842 Albert Gallatin founded together with John Russell Bartlett in New York, the American Ethnological Society.
His final resting place was Albert Gallatin in the Trinity Church in New York City.