Henry Mower Rice
Henry Mower Rice ( born November 29, 1816 in Waitsfield, Washington County, Vermont; † January 15, 1894 in San Antonio, Texas ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party. He represented the Minnesota Territory as a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States and was after the accession of Minnesota to the Union one of the first two senators for the new state.
Rise in Minnesota
After the early death of his father Henry Rice grew up with friends of the family. He completed his school education and then completed a two-year study of the law. When he was 18 years old, he moved to Detroit in Michigan and worked there as a land surveyor. Among other things he was involved in the creation of the channel between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. In 1839 he got a job at Fort Snelling near the present city of Minneapolis. He also traded furs with the Ho - Chunk and the Chippewa Indians, which his fame grew increasingly and gave him much influence. The Indians put their trust in him, so he was used as a negotiator for the contract with the Ojibwa people in 1847. In 1851 he was a member of the governing body ( Board of Regents ) of the University of Minnesota, where he stayed until 1859.
Delegate and U.S. Senator
Rice made his influence to bring the law on the establishment of Minnesota Territory by Congress. After this had succeeded, he was appointed as successor of Henry Hastings Sibley second delegate of the new territory in Washington. He took this mandate of 4 March 1853 to March 3, 1857 to true. In this role, he pushed for the establishment of the State of Minnesota; the Minnesota Enabling Act was passed by Congress on February 26, 1857. On May 11, 1858 finally took place the transformation of the territory in the 32th state. On the same day Rice and James Shields attracted than the first two senators Minnesota in Congress.
On March 3, 1863 Rice retired from the Senate; to the re-election he had not sought. He ran in 1865 for the governorship of Minnesota, but only came to 44.4 percent of the vote and was defeated by Republican William Rainey Marshall. He then moved largely withdrew from politics. He was president of the Minnesota Historical Society and served 1887-1888 as Federal Commissioner for further negotiations with Indian peoples. Henry Rice died in January 1894 during a visit to Texas. His younger brother Edmund was also a politician and sat for Minnesota from 1887 to 1889 as a deputy in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Appreciation
Since 1916 reminds one created by Frederick E. Triebel marble statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection at Henry Mower Rice. In this collection, which can be found in the National Statuary Hall of the Capitol in Washington, each state has the opportunity to pay tribute to two people from his story for her services.
Were named after Rice Rice Creek, a tributary of the Mississippi, and the Rice County in southern Minnesota.