Born in Strafford, April 14, 1810. He became a prosperous merchant in his native town and in 1854 was elected to Congress. He was appointed member of the Ways and Means Committee and later became its chairman. He had charge of the tariff bill which bore his name and which furnished revenue for the Government during the Civil War. He introduced a land grant college bill providing for the establishment of colleges which should furnish instruction in agriculture and the mechanic arts. President Buchanan vetoed the measure, but it was passed again and signed by President Lincoln. The act is one of the landmarks in the history of education in America. In 1866 he was transferred to the Senate where he was for many years chairman of the Finance Committee. No public man has been more active than he in the erection and improvement of the great public buildings at the national capital. He died December 28, 1898, aged eighty-eight years, having served in the House and Senate more than forty-three years, the longest period of continuous service in Congress in American history. |