James McMillan (politician)

James McMillan ( born May 12, 1838 in Hamilton, Upper Canada, † August 10 1902 in Manchester, Massachusetts ) was an American politician of Canadian origin, who represented the state of Michigan in the U.S. Senate.

Life

James McMillan was born in today's Ontario, Canada; his parents came from Scotland. He went to school in Hamilton, before to Detroit in Michigan, he moved in 1855 to pursue a career there as a businessman. There he first worked as a clerk for a hardware wholesaler. When he was 20 years old, he got a job as a buyer at the Detroit & Milwaukee Railway. In 1863 he worked together with John Stoughton Newberry, a later Congressman from Michigan, the construction of the Michigan Car Company with. Eventually, he became president of the launched by him Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway; He also was involved in numerous other stores, primarily in shipping. In Detroit, he also served for three years as President of the Board of Park Commissioners and as a member of the local supreme governing body ( Board of Estimates ).

Policy

As politicians McMillan joined the Republicans. In the years 1879, 1886 and 1890, he was selected in each case to the party chairman in Michigan. He also sat in the presidential election in 1884 as the election of James G. Blaine man in the Electoral College; However, became president of the Democrat Grover Cleveland.

In 1889 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where McMillan remained after multiple re-election until his death on 10 August 1902. During this time, he served as Chairman of the Committee on Manufactures and the Committee on the District of Columbia. He also stood in front of what became known as the McMillan Commission Senate Park Improvement Commission, which was responsible for the creation of the National Mall.