Knute Nelson: Difference between revisions

|name = Knute Nelson

|image = Knute Nelson cph.3a45938.jpg

|jr/sr and state1 = [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] <br> from [[Minnesota]]

| term_start1 = March 4, 1895

| term_end1 = April 28, 1923

| predecessor1 = [[William D. Washburn]]

| successor1 = [[Magnus Johnson]]

|order2 = 12th

|office2 = Governor of Minnesota

| term_start2 = January 4, 1893

| term_end2 = January 31, 1895

| lieutenant2 = David Marston Clough

| predecessor2 = [[William Rush Merriam]]

| successor2 = [[David Marston Clough]]

|term_end3 term_start3 = March 34, 18891883

| successor3 = [[Solomon Comstock]]

|office4 = Member of the [[Minnesota Senate]]

| term4 = 1874-&ndash;1878

|office5 = Member of the [[Wisconsin State Assembly]]

| term5 = 1868-&ndash;1869

|death_datebirth_date = {{deathBirth date and age|1923|4|28|1843|2|2}}

|battlesallegiance = [[United States]] ([[Union (American Civil War)|Union]])

'''Knute Nelson''' (born '''Knud Evanger'''; February 2, 1843 – April 28, 1923) was ana [[Norway|Norwegian]]-born [[United States|American]] attorney and politician active in [[Wisconsin]] and [[Minnesota]]. A [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]], he served in state and national positions: he was elected to the [[Wisconsin Legislature|Wisconsin]] and [[Minnesota Legislature|Minnesota]] legislatures]] and to the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] and the [[United States Senate]] from Minnesota, and served as the [[List of governors of Minnesota|12th governor of Minnesota]] from 1893 to 1895. Having served in the Senate for 28 years, 55 days, he is the longest-serving Senator in Minnesota's history.

Still in his teens, Nelson joined the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] out of admiration for [[Stephen A. Douglas]] of Illinois. The family moved to the [[Koshkonong, Wisconsin|KoshkonongSettlement]] settlement, which by 1850 had more than half of Wisconsin's Norwegian population of 5,000.<ref>[http://www.mnwebsteps.com/grover/koshkonong.htm "Koshkonong"], Tarje Grover Family Website, 1998-2012, accessed 10 March 2012</ref> Nils Olson had bad luck with land purchases and became sickly. Nelson picked up most of the work of the farm, but maintained his commitment to education. Olson was not supportive and Nelson often had to scrounge to find money for schoolbooks.

Nelson returned to Albion in the spring of 1861, when the [[American Civil War]] had started. By then, he had developed his position as a "low-tariff, anti-slavery, pro-Union Democrat," but was in the minority in a pro-[[Abraham Lincoln]] region. In May 1861, he and 18 other Albion students enlisted in a state militia company known as the Black Hawk Rifles of [[Racine, Wisconsin|Racine]], to fight with the Union Army in the war. Appalled by its debauchery, the young men refused to be sworn into the army under this militia, and eventually succeeded in being transferred to the [[Fourth4th Wisconsin VolunteerInfantry Regiment|Fourth Wisconsin Volunteers]]. This was an "all-American" regiment, made up generally of native-born men.

On May 27, 1863, after the 4th Wisconsin became a [[cavalry]] unit, Nelson was wounded in the [[Battle of Port Hudson]], captured and made a [[prisoner of war]].<ref name="cd">{{cite web |title=S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903 |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-04562_00_00-001-0001-0000 |website=GovInfo.gov |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=2 July 2023 |page=55 |date=9 November 1903}}</ref> He was released when the siege ended. He served as an adjutant, was promoted to corporal, and briefly considered applying for a lieutenant's commission.

Deciding to become a lawyer, Nelson moved to [[Madison, Wisconsin|Madison]], where he "[[readreading law|studied law]]" atin the law officesoffice of [[William F. Vilas]], one of the few academically trained attorneys in the area. In the spring of 1867, judgeJudge Philip L. Spooner admitted him to the Wisconsin bar.<ref name="Service"/>

By then, Nelson had developed the strategy of orchestrating a "bottoms-up" campaign in which he would quietly enlist supporters to publicly encourage him to run, while appearing reluctant. His constituency in the Upper Country frontier put him at a disadvantage with respect to the rivaling Twin Cities. After having flexed his political muscle by "bolting" from the campaign for a few weeks, he supported the Republican nomination of [[Jacob H. Stewart|Jacob Stewart]], a medical doctor from St. Paul, who won the election against Democrat [[William W. McNair|William McNair]]. This endorsement was not backed by the Norwegian-American community, who were concerned about Stewart's association with the [[Know Nothing Party]] and the apparent rise of a ruling class in society.

The campaign opened in 1882 and quickly devolved into one of the most contentious elections in history at that point. The contest between Nelson and Charles F. Kindred for the "Bloody Fifth", as it became known, involved widespread graft, intimidation, and election fraud. The Republican convention on July 12 in [[Detroit Lakes, Minnesota|Detroit Lakes]] was compared to the historic [[Battle of the Boyne]] in [[Ireland]]. 150 delegates fought over 80 seats, and after a scuffle in the main conference center, the Kindred and Nelson campaigns nominated their candidates.<ref>{{cite web|last=Martin|first=Lawrence|title= Thursday Night Hikes: Capitol Hill/Cathedral Hill Hike Architecture Notes, Part 2|date=July 15, 2003|url=http://www.angelfire.com/mn/thursdaynighthikes/cap2cathhill.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050406045836/http://www.angelfire.com/mn/thursdaynighthikes/cap2cathhill.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 6, 2005|access-date=February 27, 2007}}</ref>

Nelson served in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from March 4, 1883, to March 4, 1889, in the [[48th United States Congress|48th]], [[49th United States Congress|49th]], and [[50th United States Congress|50th congresses]]. In keeping with practices of the [[Gilded Age]], his first agenda item in Congress was to ensure patronage for his supporters in Minnesota by doling out the limited number of federal appointments available. Most were made through Paul C. Sletten, the Receiver of the U.S. Land Office in [[Crookston, Minnesota|Crookston]]. In addition to rewarding political support, he replaced pro-Kindred appointees in the forested counties around the [[Northern Pacific Railroad]], the so-called "Pineries." Particularly publicized was the firing of Søren Listoe as Register of the U.S. Land Office in [[Fergus Falls]].

Owing, once again, to his being elected by the state legislature, Nelson's campaign for reelection in 1902 started with the Minnesota state legislature elections of 1900. His strategy was to align himself with celebrated national leaders, especially [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and [[Robert M. La Follette, Sr.]], as they swung through the state campaigning for [[William McKinley]]. Nelson was known more for thoroughness than charisma in his campaigns, but contributed significantly to the Republican success that year. Nelson's son Henry Knute Nelson was elected to the Minnesota state legislature that year.

In the Senate, Nelson was involved in creating the [[United States Department of Commerce and Labor|Department of Commerce and Labor]] and the 1898 passage of the [[Bankruptcy Act of 1898|Nelson Bankruptcy Act]], and served on the [[Overman Committee]] from 1918 to 1919. Serving from 1895 to 1923, he was a senator from the [[54th United States Congress|54th]] through the [[67th United States Congress|67th congresses]].<ref name="cd" /> He was an active senator until his death in 1923 en route by train from Washington, D.C., to his hometown of [[Alexandria, Minnesota|Alexandria]], where he was buried.

*[[List of United States Senatorssenators born outside the United States]]

[[Category:GovernorsNorwegian ofemigrants Minnesotato the United States]]