Orville Hitchcock Platt: Memorial Addresses Delivered in the Senate and House of Representatives, First Session of the Fifty-Ninth Congress (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Orville Hitchcock Platt: Memorial Addresses ...)
Excerpt from Orville Hitchcock Platt: Memorial Addresses Delivered in the Senate and House of Representatives, First Session of the Fifty-Ninth Congress
Mr. Bulkeley. Mr. President, I desire to give notice that on April 7, immediately after the routine morning business, I shall ask the Senate to consider resolutions in commemoration Of the life, character, and public services Of my late colleague, Hon. Orville hitchcock platt.
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Orville Hitchcock Platt was an American senator from Connecticut.
Background
He was born on July 19, 1827 in Washington, Connecticut, United States, the son of Daniel Gould and Almyra (Hitchcock) Platt. The first of his line in America was Richard Platt, an Englishman who settled in New Haven in 1638. Through both parents he was descended from New England farmers, many of whom had impressed themselves upon the communities in which they lived. His parents embraced the antislavery cause at a time when such an espousal invited ridicule and social ostracism in conservative northwestern Connecticut.
Education
He finished the common school at the age of thirteen. Later he studied law under Gideon H. Hollister.
Career
In 1847 he followed Frederick W. Gunn to Towanda as his assistant. In 1850, after admission to the bar, he returned to Towanda to practice of law. A few months later saw him back in Connecticut setting up an office in Meriden. Here for twenty-eight years he specialized in patent, real estate, and corporation law.
He served as chairman of the American and Republican state committees, as clerk of the state Senate in 1855 and 1856, and as secretary of state for Connecticut in 1857. In 1864 he was a member, and in 1869 he was speaker, of the state House of Representatives. While serving as state's attorney for New Haven County in 1879, as a "dark horse" he won the nomination to the United States Senate after the Republican caucus had been deadlocked for thirty-six ballots by the struggle between the supporters of Gen. Joseph R. Hawley and Marshall Jewell. Elected by the legislature, he served in the Senate from March 4, 1879, until his death.
In 1881 he became chairman of the patents committee, a position that he held intermittently for ten years. One of his speeches, in which he unsuccessfully advocated the separation of the Patent Office from the Interior Department, has been called "the most comprehensive and authoritative public utterance" on the development of the American patent system.
From 1887 to 1893 he served as chairman of the committee on territories, and as such his name was linked with the admission of six Far-Western states. It was in fiscal and tariff legislation, however, that he found his main interest.
As a member of the finance committee, he played a leading role in the framing of the Dingley tariff.
As chairman of the committee on Cuban relations, Platt, on February 25, 1901, introduced the famous amendment to the army appropriation bill which bears his name. This provided for American intervention in Cuba in certain contingencies and forbade Cuba's entering into any treaty with a foreign power that would infringe upon her independence or her territory.
With the withdrawal of American troops from Cuba in 1902, Platt threw himself into the struggle for a reciprocity treaty which had been promised as a reward for the acceptance of the amendment. His support of the administration on this issue was a decisive factor in eventually securing ratification. In July 1901 he published an article, "Our Relation to the People of Cuba and Porto Rico", and in the following year another, "Cuba's claim upon the United States".
He was stricken with pneumonia and after a short illness died on April 21, 1905, at Meriden, Connecticut.
Achievements
Orville Hitchcock Platt was a prominent conservative Republican and by the 1890s he became one of the "big four" key Republicans who largely controlled the major decisions of the Senate. He was chairman of the Committee on Patents, his name became associated with practically every patent law passed during his long career. Platt also took up the cudgels for liberal copyright relations with Europe, thus an international copyright bill putting an end to literary piracy finally became law. Besides, he introduced legislation to establish the 640-acre Sulphur Springs Reservation, protecting about 30 mineral springs, in Murray County, later it was named as Platt National Park.
One of the two Public High Schools in Meriden was named for Platt.
(Excerpt from Orville Hitchcock Platt: Memorial Addresses ...)
Politics
In international relations Platt consistently stood with the administration in office. Even Cleveland, whom he suspected and disliked, received his whole-hearted support in the Venezuela dispute with Great Britain. Later, in the troubles with Spain over Cuba, Platt became one of the props of the McKinley administration. Like the President, he feared the growth of the war spirit and labored unceasingly for a peaceful solution.
When war became inevitable he set himself against the enthusiasts who would recognize Cuban independence and thereby hamper the President's program. He became an ardent expansionist. He voted for the annexation of Hawaii and, particularly attracted by the possibilities of the Philippines as a field for the spread of American civilization, strongly urged their retention.
Unlike most other conservatives, he considered Roosevelt perfectly safe and not the enemy of "big business" that he was pictured.
Views
Quotations:
"If I had leisure and means, " he wrote, "I should have been thoroughly taken up with archaeological investigations" .
Personality
While not an orator, he had the gift of direct, pungent, and virile speech that made him a forceful debater. Nature had endowed Platt with a splendid physique which enabled him in his youth to excel in athletics.
Quotes from others about the person
After Platt's death, Roosevelt referred to him as "the grandest and noblest man" he ever knew. "
Interests
Throughout life he was attracted by outdoor activity and nothing pleased him more than to retire to his quiet shack in the Adirondacks after a strenuous session.
Connections
On May 15, 1850 he married Annie Bull. His son and his second wife, Jeannie P. (Smith) Hoyt Platt, to whom he had been married on April 29, 1897, survived him.
