They did not resent what he had done as a soldier, as they resented what Greeley had said as a politician.

They knew too, in spite of their strong differences with Grant, the innate honesty, justice and courage of the man.
Chase would have been a far stronger candidate than Greeley.
However any political antagonist might dislike him, every antagonist must respect him, and nobody could laugh at him.
The question of the constitutional power of Congress to make Treasury notes legal tender for all debts, whether incurred before or after they were issued, came up for the decision of the Court when Chase was Chief Justice.

It was a question which profoundly interested and excited the public.

The Democratic Party, which more lately favored the payment of all debts, public and private, in irredeemable paper money, had assailed the Republican Administration during the war for providing, under an alleged necessity that Treasury notes, called greenbacks, should be legal tender for the discharge of all debts.

The constitutionality of that law had been affirmed by the courts of fifteen States.