Alexander H. Rice

For the physician and explorer, see Alexander H. Rice, Jr..
Alexander Hamilton Rice
30th Governor of Massachusetts
In office
January 6, 1876 – January 2, 1879
Lieutenant Horatio G. Knight
Preceded by William Gaston
Succeeded by Thomas Talbot
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 3rd district
In office
March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1867
Preceded by Benjamin Thomas
Succeeded by Ginery Twichell
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 4th district
In office
March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1863
Preceded by Linus B. Comins
Succeeded by Samuel Hooper
15th Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts
In office
1856–1858
Preceded by Jerome V.C. Smith
Succeeded by Frederic W. Lincoln, Jr.
Personal details
Born (1818-08-30)August 30, 1818
Newton, Massachusetts
Died July 22, 1895(1895-07-22) (aged 76)
Melrose, Massachusetts
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Augusta E. McKim (d. 1868)
Angle Erickson Powell
Signature

Alexander Hamilton Rice (August 30, 1818 – July 22, 1895) was an American politician and businessman from Massachusetts. He served as Mayor of Boston from 1856 to 1857, a U.S. Congressman during the American Civil War, and as the 30th Governor of Massachusetts from 1876–78. He was part owner and president of Rice-Kendall, one of the nation's largest paper products distributors.

Early years

Portrait of Rice as a boy

Alexander Hamilton Rice was born in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts, to Thomas and Lydia (Smith) Rice, on August 30, 1818. His father, a Brighton native, owned a paper manufacturing business in Newton, and both parents had deep colonial roots.[1][2] He was first educated in the Newton public schools, and then at private schools in Needham and Newton.[1][3] He first clerked at a Boston dry goods stoore, and then apprenticed in the Boston paper distributor Wilkins, Carter, and Company in Boston.[3] In 1840 he entered Union College in Schenectady, New York, graduating as class valedictorian in 1844. He was injured in a fall from a horse in 1844,[1] after which he gave up thoughts of pursuing a career in law, and decided to focus on business.[4]

Business interests

After his graduation Rice entered into partnership with the proprietors of Wilkins, Carter, forming what eventually became known as the Rice-Kendall Company.[3] The firm owned a large warehouse in Boston, and was one of the leading paper distributors in the city. The warehouse was destroyed in the Great Boston Fire of 1872, but this did not significantly damage the business.[5] The company owned several paper mills in New England, and distributed paper products to newspaper and book publishers nationwide.[6] Rice also invested in paper manufacturing operations, serving as president of both the Keith Paper Company in Turners Falls, Massachusetts and the American Sulphite Pulp Company.[1]

Political career

The 1858 Boston Public Library building, constructed during Rice's tenure as Mayor of Boston

In 1853 Rice entered local politics, winning election Boston's Common Council. He served for two years, the second as council president. In 1854 he also served as president of Boston's School Committee.[4] Rice was elected mayor of Boston in 1856 (as a "Citizens" candidate), and served two one-year terms. During his tenure, an agreement was reached between the city, state and owners of a tidal waterworks governing development of the Back Bay, then a smelly sewage-laden swamp. The agreement authorized the construction of what is now Arlington Street, and specifically set aside as parkland the area between it and Charles Street, which is now the Boston Public Garden.[7] He later sat on the committees responsible for the commissioning and installation of the statues of George Washington and Charles Sumner in the Public Garden.[8] He also authorized construction of the city's first hospital,[9] and repurposed the city's almshouse on Deer Island for use as an insane asylum and workhouse, the state having taken over care of the indigent.[10]

Rice served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1859–67, serving as chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs from 1863–65.[11] He was a conservative Republican, opposed to Radical Republican positions on the abolition of slavery.[12] He introduced the Crittenden Compromise to the House in January 1861; his speech on this last-ditch attempt to prevent civil war received a lukewarm reception.[13] After the war, he was elected as a Third Class Companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States in recognition of his support for the Union.

Rice then left politics, devoting himself to his business interests. In 1872, after the Boston fire, he served on a relief committee that assisted in dealing with its aftermath.[14] In 1875, Rice ran for Governor of Massachusetts. He served three one-year terms before retiring from politics for good. Legislation enacted during his tenure included a child labor law mandating a minimum age of fourteen for factory work.[8]

Rice died at the Langwood Hotel in Melrose, Massachusetts, on July 22, 1895,[15] and was buried at Newton Cemetery.[16]

Family relations

Rice was married twice. In 1845 he married Augusta McKim, with whom he had three children before her death in 1868. He had one son by his second wife, Angie Erickson Powell of Rochester, New York.[3][17]

Rice's uncle Charles was a brigadier general in the Massachusetts state militia and also served as a state legislator. His grandson Alexander Hamilton Rice, Jr. was a physician and explorer in South America.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Carnegie, p. 43
  2. ↑ Edmund Rice (1638) Association, 2011. Descendants of Edmund Rice: The First Nine Generations.
  3. 1 2 3 4 The American Stationer, p. 157
  4. 1 2 Fullerton, p. 273
  5. ↑ Conwell, p. 31
  6. ↑ Sweetser, p. 391
  7. ↑ Koren, pp. 119-120
  8. 1 2 Roe, p. 661
  9. ↑ Toomey and Quinn, p. 38
  10. ↑ Koren, p 140
  11. ↑ Alexander Hamilton Rice - Celebrity Relations Accessed April 13, 2006.
  12. ↑ Mallam, p. 37
  13. ↑ McClintock, p. 155
  14. ↑ Conwell, p. 162
  15. ↑ Fullerton, p. 272
  16. ↑ United States Congress. "Alexander H. Rice (id: R000193)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  17. ↑ Bradford, p. 274

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Hamilton Rice.

Further reading

Political offices
Preceded by
Jerome V. C. Smith		 Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts
1856–1857 		Succeeded by
Frederic W. Lincoln, Jr.
Preceded by
William Gaston		 Governor of Massachusetts
January 6, 1876 – January 2, 1879 		Succeeded by
Thomas Talbot
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Linus B. Comins		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 4th congressional district
March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1863 		Succeeded by
Samuel Hooper
Preceded by
Benjamin Thomas		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district
March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1867 		Succeeded by
Ginery Twichell
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