Matthew H. Carpenter

Matthew Hale Carpenter ( born December 22, 1824 in Moretown, Washington County, Vermont as Decatur Merritt Hammond Carpenter, † February 24, 1881 in Washington DC) was an American politician who represented the state of Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate.

Carpenter attended the public schools in Vermont and later, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he was trained from 1843 to 1845. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1847, and then began practicing in Boston. In 1848 he moved to Beloit, Wisconsin, where he obtained his birth name and became known as Matthew Hale Carpenter. From 1850 to 1854 he was the district attorney of Rock County.

Before the outbreak of the Civil War Carpenter was a member of the Democratic Party and was a member of the Douglas wing; then he stepped over to the Republicans. For his new party in 1868 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he remained from March 4, 1869 until March 3, 1875; the re-election attempt was unsuccessful. During his tenure, he served as Chairman of the Committee for the control of expenditure, the function later, the Committee on Rules and Administration took over; Furthermore, he was from March 1873 to January 1875 President pro tempore of the Senate.

As a result, Carpenter again worked as a lawyer in Washington and Milwaukee, before he was in 1878 again elected to the Senate. However, he died later during his tenure on February 24, 1881 in Washington.