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Walter Forward
United States Minister to Denmark
In office June 15, 1850 – September 10, 1851
President	Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore
Preceded by	Robert Flenniken
Succeeded by	Miller Grieve
15thUnited States Secretary of the Treasury
In office September 13, 1841 – March 1, 1843
President	John Tyler
Preceded by	Thomas Ewing
Succeeded by	John Spencer
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania
In office October 8, 1822 – March 3, 1825
Preceded by	Henry Baldwin
Succeeded by	James S. Stevenson
Constituency	14th district (1822–1823) 16th districtSeat B (1823–1825)
Personal details
Born	(1786-01-24)January 24, 1786 East Granby, Connecticut,U.S.
Died	November 24, 1852(1852-11-24) (aged 66) Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania,U.S.
Political party	Democratic-Republican (before 1825) Whig (1834–1852)
Spouse	Henrietta Barclay
Relations	Oliver Forward (brother) Chauncey Forward (brother)

Walter Forward (January 24, 1786 – November 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and politician. He was the brother ofChauncey Forward andOliver Forward.

Born inEast Granby, Connecticut, he attended thecommon schools. After moving with his father toAurora, Ohio, he settled inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1803. There he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1806. He practiced in Pittsburgh and also served for more than a year as editor ofThe Tree of Liberty newspaper. He also served in thePennsylvania General Assembly.^[1]

In 1822, he was elected to the17th Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation ofHenry Baldwin, and was reelected to the18th Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1824 to the19th Congress. He was a member of the Pennsylvaniaconstitutional convention in 1837 and played an important role in the establishment of theUnited States Whig Party in the 1830s.^[1]

Forward was an active supporter of the Harrison-Tyler ticket in theU.S. presidential election, 1840. As a reward, Forward was offered the office ofUnited States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He declined that appointment but on March 6, 1841 was appointed byPresidentWilliam Henry Harrison to beFirst Comptroller of the Treasury. He served in that post until September 13, 1841, when he was appointed 15thU.S. Secretary of the Treasury by PresidentJohn Tyler.^[1]

During his tenure as Treasury Secretary, theIndependent Treasury System of 1840 was abolished, and the government's funds were deposited once more with commercial banks. Soon after Forward took office, he was asked byMillard Fillmore, then chairman of theU.S. House Ways and Means Committee, to devise a plan to increase the tariff, in response to the serious decrease in revenue caused by thePanic of 1837. He was also asked to develop plans for a "Board of Exchequer" to receive and disburse customs revenue, since the Independent Treasury System was no longer in effect. In August 1842 a stronglyprotective tariff was passed. Since constant friction with the new President marred his entire tenure as Secretary of the Treasury, he left Tyler's cabinet on February 28, 1843.^[1]

After leaving his Cabinet post, Forward resumed the practice of law in Pittsburgh until 1849, when he was appointedChargé d'Affaires toDenmark by PresidentZachary Taylor.^[1] He returned from Denmark in 1851 to serve as presiding judge of the district court ofAllegheny County.^[2] He died inPittsburgh and is interred inAllegheny Cemetery.^[1]

Forward Township^[3] in Allegheny County is named for Walter Forward, as is the Coast Guard Cutter USCGC Forward (WMEC-911).

• United States Congress."Walter Forward (id: F000291)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2009-5-20
• "Walter Forward".Find a Grave. RetrievedMay 20, 2009.

• 1786 births
• 1852 deaths
• 19th-century American diplomats
• 19th-century American newspaper editors
• People from Hartford County, Connecticut
• United States secretaries of the treasury
• Politicians from Pittsburgh
• Ambassadors of the United States to Denmark
• Pennsylvania Whigs
• Tyler administration cabinet members
• People from Aurora, Ohio
• Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
• Burials at Allegheny Cemetery
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

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