Nils P. Haugen

Nils P. Haugen
Nils P. Haugen in 1912
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 10th district
In office March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1895
Preceded by	District Created
Succeeded by	John J. Jenkins
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 8th district
In office March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1893
Preceded by	Hugh H. Price
Succeeded by	Lyman E. Barnes
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
In office 1879-1880
Personal details
Born	March 9, 1849 Modum, Norway
Died	April 23, 1931 (aged 82) Madison, Wisconsin
Political party	Republican Progressive

Nils Pederson Haugen (March 9, 1849 – April 23, 1931) was a U.S. Representative from Wisconsin. He was a leading member of the Progressive Movement and a national expert on tax reform.^[1]

Background

Born in Modum, Buskerud, Norway, Haugen immigrated to the United States in 1854 with his parents. They settled in Pierce County, Wisconsin in 1855. Haugen attended Luther College, in Decorah, Iowa. Haugen graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan in 1874. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in River Falls, Wisconsin. He also served for several years as a court reporter for the 8th and later the 11th judicial circuits.^[2]

Haugen's former home, the William T. Leitch House, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[3] The house was also home to Madison, Wisconsin Mayors William T. Leitch and Moses Ransom Doyon.

Haugen wed the former Ingeborg "Belle" Rasmussen in Saint Croix county, Wisconsin in 1875.

Career

Haugen served in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1879 and 1880. He was the Wisconsin Railroad Commissioner from 1882 until 1887. In 1887, Haugen was elected as a Republican Congressman to the Fiftieth Congress. He was elected as the representative of Wisconsin's 8th congressional district. Haugen was reelected to the Fifty-first, Fifty-second. Haugen was once again reelected to the Fifty-third Congresses, however this time he redistricted and represented the newly created Wisconsin's 10th congressional district. Overall he served from March 4, 1887 until March 3, 1895. He did not seek renomination in 1894 but was an unsuccessful candidate for the nomination for Governor of Wisconsin.^[4]

Haugen was often associated with and served as a political ally of Robert M. La Follette, Sr.. Wisconsin Republican Party dissidents who joined La Follette became known as the Progressive faction. Progressives stressed the need for more direct voter control and championed consumer rights. Their call for reform gained more support after the Panic of 1893 shook up the economic, class, and ethnic assumptions held by many Americans. In 1894, the Progressives began to openly campaign for leadership of the Republican Party in Wisconsin. Nils Haugen sought the party nomination for governor in 1894 and Robert La Follette followed in 1896 and 1898.^[5][6]

After Robert LaFollette Sr. was elected governor of Wisconsin, he appointed Haugen to the Tax Commission in 1901. Haugen served on the Wisconsin State Tax Commission throughout the Progressive era, from 1901 until 1921. During that time he made the commission an important part of the Progressive movement. In 1915 Haugen helped preserve the law's strength by persuading Gov. Emanuel Philipp not to transfer collection activities from the commission to local governments. From 1919 until 1920, Haugen served as president of the National Tax Association, a nonpartisan, educational association that studies tax theory and public finance. Haugen was adviser to the State of Montana Board of Equalization from 1921 to 1923. He died April 23, 1931 in Madison, Wisconsin, where he was interred in Forest Hill Cemetery.^[7]

References

1. Dictionary of Wisconsin History (Wisconsin Historical Society)
2. Wisconsin's Legal History: Part VIII (Wisconsin Lawyer. State Bar of Wisconsin)
3. Leitch House (Historical Marker Database.org)
4. The American Radical (Edited by Mary J Buhle, Paul Buhle, Harvey J Kaye. NYC: Routledge. 1994)
5. Autobiography (Robert La Follette, Chapter V . Country Life Press: Garden City, N.Y., 1912)
6. Fond du Lac's Anti-La Follette Movement, 1900-1905. Fond du Lac Public Library by Matthew J. Crane
7. Past Presidents of the NTA (National Tax Association)

Other sources

• Brandes, Stuart Dean. Nils P. Haugen and the Wisconsin Progressive Movement (Master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1925)
• Brøndal, Jørn. Ethnic Leadership and Midwestern Politics: Scandinavian Americans and the Progressive Movement in Wisconsin, 1890-1914. (Northfield, Minnesota: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 2004)
• Haugen, Nils Pederson. Pioneer and Political Reminiscences. (Evansville, Wis.: The Antes Press, 1930)

External links

• Wisconsin Historic Society
• The Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 12, number 4, June 1929
• Nils P. Haugen at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress