Alexander Campbell

Alexander Campbell (October 4, 1814 – August 8, 1898) was an Illinois businessman, politician, and author. After serving in state and local office as a member of the Whig Party and the Republican Party, Campbell published a book titled The True American System of Finance, becoming a leading figure in the Greenback movement. Campbell's work expanded on that of economist Edward Kellogg, who had advocated for fiat money. Campbell served a single term in the United States House of Representatives as an independent, and won the backing of several delegates for the presidential nomination at the 1876 and 1880 Greenback National Convention. Background Cambell was born on a farm near Concord, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools; became a clerk in an iron works and was subsequently promoted to superintendent, became wealthy managing mines and steel mills in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Missouri until 1850, when he moved to LaSalle, Illinois and became interested in the coal fields there. Public office and political theory As a member of the Whig Party, Campbell won election as mayor of the newly established town of LaSalle, serving two terms in that office in the early 1850s. He then served as a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1858 to 1859. He was a delegate to the 1862 Illinois Constitutional Convention. In 1864, Campbell expanded on the ideas of pre-Civil-War U.S. economist Edward Kellogg in a book titled The True American System of Finance. In the book, Campbell followed Kellogg's example in advocating for fiat money. He differed from Kellogg in that he favored maintaining that system through a currency and bond system rather than through re-establishing a national bank.