29 Facts About Nelson Aldrich

1.

Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich was a prominent American politician and a leader of the Republican Party in the United States Senate, where he represented Rhode Island from 1881 to 1911.

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2.

Nelson Aldrich served a single term in the United States House of Representatives before winning election to the Senate.

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3.

Nelson Aldrich helped win Senate approval of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish–American War.

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4.

Nelson Aldrich led the passage of the Nelson Aldrich–Vreeland Act, which established the National Monetary Commission to study the causes of the Panic of 1907.

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5.

Nelson Aldrich served as chair of that commission, which drew up the Aldrich Plan as a basis for a reform of the financial regulatory system.

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6.

Nelson Aldrich sponsored the Sixteenth Amendment, which allowed for a direct federal income tax.

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7.

Nelson Aldrich's descendants, including namesake Nelson A Rockefeller, became powerful figures in American politics and banking.

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8.

Nelson Aldrich was born in Foster, Rhode Island, into a middle-class family purportedly descended from noted English immigrants John Winthrop, William Wickenden, and Roger Williams.

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9.

Nelson Aldrich's father was Anan E Aldrich, a mill hand, and mother Abby Burgess.

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10.

Nelson Aldrich attended public schools in East Killingly, Connecticut and the East Greenwich Academy, a boarding school in Rhode Island.

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11.

Nelson Aldrich began to debate at the local public lecture hall on various political issues of the era.

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12.

In 1872, after the loss of a child and in the midst of health issues, Nelson Aldrich took a five-month tour of Europe and renewed his life's ambition.

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13.

Nelson Aldrich became involved with politics and with the help of local business people in Providence, Nelson Aldrich became a director of a small bank.

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14.

Nelson Aldrich served as a member of the Providence City Council from 1869 to 1875 and as its president in 1872 and 1873, he then was elected as a Republican to the Rhode Island House of Representatives, from 1875 to 1876, and served as Speaker of the House in 1876.

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15.

Nelson Aldrich served in the Senate for 30 years from 1881 to 1911.

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16.

Nelson Aldrich was the longest-serving United States Senator from Rhode Island before the 36-year tenure of Claiborne Pell in the late 20th century.

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17.

Nelson Aldrich's long tenure in the Senate was assisted by Rhode Island's restriction of the office to property owners and native-born citizens willing to pay a poll tax, and later, by a legislature that gerrymandered in favor of small Republican towns.

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18.

Nelson Aldrich occupied himself with national tariff issues when arriving in the Senate, and supported the tariff as vital to business owners and ordinary citizens alike.

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19.

Nelson Aldrich was opposed to backing currency with silver and was involved with convincing McKinley to run on a gold platform in 1896.

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20.

Panic of 1907 led to the passage of the Nelson Aldrich–Vreeland Act in 1908, which established the National Monetary Commission, sponsored and headed by Nelson Aldrich.

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21.

In 1909, Nelson Aldrich introduced a constitutional amendment to establish an income tax, although he had declared a similar measure "communistic" a decade earlier.

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22.

Nelson Aldrich opposed entry into the Spanish–American War, but supported McKinley when it began.

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23.

Nelson Aldrich played a central role in winning two-thirds Senate approval of the Treaty of Paris that ended the war, and included annexation of the Philippines.

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24.

Nelson Aldrich helped frame the Platt Amendment of 1901, which defined the American role in Cuba.

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25.

Nelson Aldrich supported the Panama Canal, but was critical of Roosevelt's general Caribbean policy.

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26.

Nelson Aldrich's daughter Abigail Greene "Abby" Aldrich was a philanthropist who married American financer and philanthropist John Davison Rockefeller, Jr.

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27.

Aldrich's son Richard S Aldrich served in Congress from 1923 to 1933, and his son Winthrop Williams Aldrich served as chairman of the Chase National Bank.

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28.

Nelson Aldrich was very active in the Freemasons and was Treasurer of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island.

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29.

Nelson Aldrich developed an elaborate country estate in the Warwick Neck section of Warwick, Rhode Island.

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