Background
Thomas Henry Carter was born on October 30, 1854 on a farm in Scioto County, Ohio, United States. His parents, Edward C. and Margaret (Byrnes) Carter were of pure Irish blood. In 1865 they moved to central Illinois.
lawyer politician senator statesman
Thomas Henry Carter was born on October 30, 1854 on a farm in Scioto County, Ohio, United States. His parents, Edward C. and Margaret (Byrnes) Carter were of pure Irish blood. In 1865 they moved to central Illinois.
In 1878 Thomas left his father's home and began the study of law at Burlington, Iowa.
In 1882 Carter moved to Helena, Montana, and with Montana he was identified for the remainder of his life. In his early years in Montana he gave himself entirely to the practise of law, entering into partnership with John B. Clayberg in a firm which maintained a preeminent position for many years. In 1888 the Republican party nominated him as its candidate for territorial delegate to Congress. The territory had generally been Democratic, but this year due to a fight between Democratic leaders Carter was elected by a majority of more than 5, 000 votes. The following year Montana was admitted as a state and Carter was elected its first representative in Congress. There he showed a disposition to urge free silver and was an advocate of more liberal legislation for homesteaders. In spite of his Western view-point, and of the fact that he came from a new state he gained influence rapidly. In the Democratic landslide of 1890 he was defeated for reelection, and President Harrison gave him an appointment as commissioner of the general land office. This appointment was received with pleasure in the West where the land laws had been enforced by men with Eastern views. Carter at once satisfied the complaints of Western farmers, miners, and timbermen by a policy of liberal interpretation of the law. In 1892, four years after he had entered politics, he was selected by Harrison as chairman of the Republican national committee to manage the President's campaign for reelection. Three years later he was elected to the United States Senate by the legislature of Montana. Upon the expiration of his term he retired to make way for a Democrat but was elected again in 1905. Carter's chief work was as United States senator. Although a staunch Republican he strongly opposed the policy of Eastern manufacturers who desired a high tariff on finished goods and a low tariff on raw materials. Montana was a producer of wool, hides, lead, and lumber, and he advocated protection for these. His support of the Dingley Tariff and of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff was given only after protection for the raw materials of the West was included. He also forced the issue of bimetallism against the growing influence of the gold wing under Hanna, and, although he refused to bolt the St. Louis convention, after the Republican triumph in 1896 he waged a fight for international bimetallism. While McKinley was still president, Carter supported the bill for a ship subsidy and coupled it with a demand for national reclamation. He also took a leading part in many measures not of a partisan nature. He helped draft the forest reserve law of 1897 and throughout his twelve years in the Senate was an active participant in all sorts of legislation regarding the national forests. He was opposed to a policy of extensive conservation, vigorously attacking Cleveland's withdrawal of 21, 000, 000 acres of the public domain for forest reserve, and fighting Roosevelt's policy of conservation as primarily beneficial to the large lumber companies. In great measure he represented the older Western sentiment favorable to getting the public domain as rapidly as possible into private hands. He introduced a number of bills for the improvement of Yellowstone Park and was largely responsible for the establishment of Glacier National Park. For many years he was an advocate of postal savings banks and drafted the measure that finally became a law. He declared that this act was his greatest contribution to good government. He earnestly advocated a constitutional amendment giving Congress authority to enact a uniform marriage and divorce law. He was greatly interested in giving Alaska an adequate territorial government, and helped draft the code that went into operation in 1911. He opposed all attacks on the Civil Service Law and brought about many extensions of its regulations. Shrewd, cautious, but courageous, he was a man of great power, although his ability to obtain something for Montana and the West in all types of legislation, and the way in which he strove to reconcile opposing principles laid him open to charges of insincerity.
Carter's first foray into public office in Montana was in the role of public administrator for Lewis and Clark County. In 1888, he was nominated as the Republican candidate for the position of Territorial Delegate to Congress. In the general election in November he faced Butte copper king and Democrat William Clark, making his first of numerous attempts at federal office. Carter upset Clark by winning the three largely Democratic counties of Silver Bow, Deer Lodge, and Missoula, likely with the assistance of Marcus Daly, another influential Montana Democratic copper king and enemy of Clark. Montana's Irish voters, who disliked Clark, also likely helped Carter to victory. This particular election is said to have initiated the famous "War of the Copper Kings. " Nonetheless, Carter was elected as a Delegate to Congress and served a short term from March 4, 1889, to November 7, 1889, when the Territory of Montana was admitted as a state into the Union. The people of Montana again elected Carter as their first Representative to Congress on October 1, 1889, when he defeated long-time territorial delegate and leading Montana Democrat Martin Maginnis, and he served from November 8, 1889, to March 3, 1891. Importantly, Carter served as chairman of the Committee on Mines and Mining, a remarkable achievement for a freshman legislator in the House of Representatives, and, as one historian suggested, due to his friendship with legendary Speaker of the House Thomas B. Reid of Maine. Carter was an unsuccessful candidate in 1890 for reelection, losing a close election to Butte lawyer and Democrat William W. Dixon by 283 votes, or less than 1% of the total votes cast. President Benjamin Harrison appointed Carter as the Commissioner of the General Land Office from 1891 to 1892, when he was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Carter was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1895, until March 3, 1901. As a Senator he was chairman of the Committee on Relations with Canada (Fifty-fourth Congress), the Committee on the Census (Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth Congresses). President William McKinley appointed him a member of the board of commissioners of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and he served as its president. Carter was elected again as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1905, to March 3, 1911. He was not a candidate for reelection.
He was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Montana's At-large district.
He was married on January 27, 1886, to Ellen L. Galen of Helena.