Thomas Brackett Reed

Thomas Brackett Reed

Thomas Brackett Reed (born October 18, 1839 in Portland , Maine , †  December 7, 1902 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician . Between 1877 and 1899 he represented the state of Maine in the US House of Representatives . During this time he was the Speaker of the House of Representatives twice .

Career

Thomas Reed attended the public schools of his home country and then until 1860 Bowdoin College in Brunswick . In the final stages of the Civil War , he served between April 1864 and November 1865 in the US Navy as deputy paymaster. After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1865, he began practicing his new profession in Portland. Politically, Reed was a member of the Republican Party . He was a member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1868 and 1869 ; In 1870 he was a member of the State Senate . Between 1870 and 1872 Reed served as Attorney General of Maine, from 1874 to 1877 he was the legal representative of the City of Portland.

In 1876, Reed was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington as a candidate for the Maine First Constituency . There he took over from John H. Burleigh on March 4, 1877 . After a total of eleven re-elections, he could remain in Congress until his resignation on September 4, 1899 . Between 1889 and 1891 and again from 1895 to 1899 he was President ( Speaker ) of the Chamber. He managed to give this office more weight and influence. Reed was also chairman of the legal committee between 1881 and 1883. He was also a member of the Committee on Rules on several occasions . The Spanish-American War of 1898 , with which Reed disagreed , also fell during his time in Congress . At that time, the Philippines and Hawaii came under American administration.

In 1896, Thomas Reed was speculating on his party's nomination for the presidential election. But he had to admit defeat to William McKinley . After his resignation in September 1899, Reed moved to New York , where he worked as a lawyer. He died on December 7, 1902 while visiting the capital, Washington, and was buried in Portland.

Web links

• Thomas Brackett Reed in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Thomas Brackett Reed in the database of Find a Grave (English)