Christopher Gustavus Memminger (1803-1888), American politician, was a South Carolina legislator and secretary of the Treasury in the Confederate government.

Christopher G. Memminger was born in Würtemberg, Germany, on Jan. 9, 1803. After the death of his father, Memminger and his mother emigrated to Charleston, S.C. When his mother died, he was taken into the home of Thomas Bennett, later governor of the state. After graduating from South Carolina College in 1819, Memminger studied law and then established a successful practice in Charleston.

Memminger wrote a satirical pamphlet attacking the leaders of the nullification movement (to nullify recent Federal tariff acts) of the 1830s. He became a member of South Carolina's House of Representatives in 1836 and, as chairman of the finance committee, began a lengthy struggle to reform state finances and the practices of the banking community. His advocacy of such reforms earned him a reputation as a...