William Morris Meredith (June 8, 1799 – August 17, 1873) was an American lawyer and politician.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1812. After he was admitted to the bar 1817, he began practicing law.
He served in the Pennsylvania General Assembly from 1824 to 1828, and was president of the Philadelphia City Council from 1834 until 1849. He was also United States Attorney for the Eastern Distri...
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William Morris Meredith (June 8, 1799 – August 17, 1873) was an American lawyer and politician.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1812. After he was admitted to the bar 1817, he began practicing law.
He served in the Pennsylvania General Assembly from 1824 to 1828, and was president of the Philadelphia City Council from 1834 until 1849. He was also United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1841.
President Zachary Taylor, wanting a Pennsylvanian Whig for his cabinet, appointed William M. Meredith to be the 19th Secretary of the Treasury. He began his term in office in March 1849. Meredith strongly opposed the free trade legislation passed the year before under his predecessor Robert J. Walker. He felt that there was a need to protect the American workman, who was subject to competition from poorly paid European labor. Meredith's principal contribution in office was his Annual Report of 1849 in which he set...
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