John Sherman (1823-1900) had enjoyed an illustrious career in Congress (1855-1877) before President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed him Secretary of the Treasury in 1877. As a member of the Senate Finance Committee he had led the planning of Secretary Salmon P. Chase's National Banking System. Later, as chairman of that committee, he oversaw national policy on the postwar banking system, dominated by the debate over the inflationary greenback. Champions of reconstruction and westward expansion wanted to continue use of the plentiful greenback while conservative financiers wanted to control inflation and use a currency backed by gold.
This grew matter complicated and became a sectional issue when Westerners advocated a currency based on both gold and the cheaper and more readily available Western silver. Although he was faced with business failures and inflation, which magnified public opposition to "hard money," Secretary Sherman advocated a gold standard and built up the nation's gold reserves. He also recommended in 1880 that sweeping changes be made in public service in order to retain valuable employees. This recommendation resulted in the Civil Service Act of 1883. At the end of Hayes's presidency, Sherman returned to the Senate where he continued his fight against currency backed by silver.
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