William P. Fessenden

William P. Fessenden (1806-1869) was an American politician who served as Secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. He was a leading antislavery campaigner, and in his earlier years as a politician he was among the Radical Republicans, a faction of politicians who demanded the complete eradication of slavery, total civil and political rights for former slaves, and punitive measures towards supporters of the Confederacy. However, during the war, Fessenden moderated his views, and followed Lincoln in supporting more leniency towards the ex-Confederates.