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George Washington Campbell
5th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office February 9, 1814 – October 5, 1814
Preceded by	Albert Gallatin
Succeeded by	Alexander J. Dallas
Born	February 9, 1769(1769-02-09) Scotland
Died	February 17, 1848 (aged 79) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Spouse	Harriot Stoddert Campbell
Profession	Politician, Lawyer

George Washington Campbell (February 9, 1769 – February 17, 1848) was an American statesman.

Born in Scotland, he immigrated to North Carolina in 1772 with his parents. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1794 and began studying law. He was admitted to the bar in North Carolina and began practicing in Knoxville, Tennessee.

He was elected the Congressman at-large from Tennessee in 1803, serving until 1809 (the 8th, 9th and 10th Congresses). During the 10th Congress he was the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means. He was also one of the managers appointed in 1804 to conduct the impeachment hearings for John Pickering, judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire, and later in the same year, the impeachment hearings against Samuel Chase, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

He left Congress in 1809 when he became a state Supreme Court judge, serving through 1811.

He served as a United States Senator from Tennessee twice, once from 1811 to 1814, having been elected to fill the seat of Jenkin Whiteside, and again from 1815 to 1818. His first service was from October 8, 1811 to February 11, 1814, when he resigned to accept appointment as the United States Secretary of the Treasury. He returned to the Senate on October 10, 1815. He served as the first chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance and its predecessor from December 4, 1815 till his resignation from the U.S. Senate on April 20, 1818; on this occasion to accept appointment as ambassador to Russia.

As Treasury Secretary, a Presidential Cabinet position to which he was appointed by James Madison, he faced national financial disorder brought on by the War of 1812. Congress had failed to recharter the First Bank of the United States after its charter expired in 1811, and appropriations for the war were unavailable, so Campbell had to convince Americans to buy government bonds. He was forced to meet to lenders terms, selling government bonds at exorbitant interest rates. In September, 1814 the British occupied Washington, D.C. and the credit of the government was lowered even further. Campbell was unsuccessful in his efforts to raise money through additional bond sales and he resigned that October after only eight months in office, disillusioned and in bad health.

He was the U.S. ambassador to Russia from 1818 until 1821, and a member of the French Spoliation Claims Commission in 1831.

He died in 1848 and is buried at Nashville City Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.

Campbell County, Tennessee, is named in his honor.

v • d • e United States Secretaries of the Treasury

Hamilton • Wolcott • Dexter • Gallatin • Campbell • Dallas • Crawford • Rush • Ingham • McLane • Duane • Taney • Woodbury • Ewing • Forward • Spencer • Bibb • Walker • Meredith • Corwin • Guthrie • Cobb • Thomas • Dix • Chase • Fessenden • McCulloch • Boutwell • Richardson • Bristow • Morrill • Sherman • Windom • Folger • Gresham • McCulloch • Manning • Fairchild • Windom • Foster • Carlisle • Gage • Shaw • Cortelyou • MacVeagh • McAdoo • Glass • Houston • Mellon • Mills • Woodin • Morgenthau • Vinson • Snyder • Humphrey • Anderson • Dillon • Fowler • Barr • Kennedy • Connally • Shultz • Simon • Blumenthal • Miller • Regan • Baker • Brady • Bentsen • Rubin • Summers • O'Neill • Snow • Paulson

v • d • e United States Senators from Tennessee
Class 1	Cocke · A. Jackson · Smith · J. Anderson · Campbell · Eaton · Grundy · Foster · Grundy · Nicholson · Foster · Turney · Jones · Johnson · Patterson · Brownlow · Johnson · Key · Bailey · H. Jackson · Whitthorne · Bate · Frazier · Lea · McKellar · Gore, Sr. · Brock III · Sasser · Frist · Corker
Class 2	Blount · J. Anderson · Cocke · Smith · Whiteside · Campbell · Wharton · Williams · A. Jackson · White · A. Anderson · Jarnagin · Bell · Nicholson · Fowler · Cooper · Harris · Turley · Carmack · Taylor · Sanders · Webb · Shields · Tyson · Brock I · Hull · Bachman · Berry · Stewart · Kefauver · Walters · Bass · Baker · Gore, Jr. · Mathews · Thompson · Alexander

v • d • e Cabinet of President James Madison (1809-1817)
Vice President	George Clinton (1809-1812) • Elbridge Gerry (1813-1814)
Secretary of State	Robert Smith (1809 – 1811) • James Monroe (1811 – 1814) (1815 – 1817)
Secretary of the Treasury	Albert Gallatin (1809 – 1814) • George W. Campbell (1814) • Alexander J. Dallas (1814 – 1816) • William H. Crawford (1816 – 1817)
Secretary of War	William Eustis (1809 – 1813) • John Armstrong, Jr. (1813 – 1814) • James Monroe (1814 – 1815) • William H. Crawford (1815 – 1816)
Attorney General	Caesar A. Rodney (1809 – 1811) • William Pinkney (1811 – 1814) • Richard Rush (1814 – 1817)
Postmaster General	Gideon Granger (1809 – 1814) • Return J. Meigs, Jr. (1814 – 1817)
Secretary of the Navy	Paul Hamilton (1809 – 1813) • William Jones (1813 – 1814) • Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1814 – 1817)

• George W. Campbell at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress