NELSON ALDRICH, WILLIAM SHEFFIELD and JONATHAN CHACE
Signatures of three U.S. Senators from Rhode Island, one of them a major architect of America's modern financial system.
Signatures: "Jonathan Chase/Rhode Island", "Wm P Sheffield/Rhode Island", "Nelson W. Aldrich/Rhode Island", 1p, 7½x4½ album leaf. WILLIAM PAINE SHEFFIELD (1820-1907), a longtime state legislator, was appointed to fill the US Senate seat vacated by the death of Senator Henry Nelson (1884-1885). He did not seek election to a full term. Instead, JONATHAN CHACE (1829-1917) won the seat in a special election, was re-elected in 1888, but resigned to pursue business interests in 1889. Before serving in the Senate, Chace had represented Rhode Island in the House for two terms (1881-1885). The third signer was to have a more lasting impact on US history. NELSON ALDRICH (1841-1915), a Civil War veteran, was Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives (1876-1877), a U.S. Representative (1879-1881) and U.S. Senator (1881-1911). A Republican like Sheffield and Chace, Aldrich was a very powerful Senator, using his seat on the Finance Committee to exert great influence on US economic policy. An advocate of high protective tariffs and co-author of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909, Aldrich secured exemption of fine art from import duties, a great benefit to American art museums. Although he had previously called a proposed income tax "communistic," Aldrich became convinced of its necessity and introduced the Sixteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, allowing taxation of income (previously ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court). In 1908, the Aldrich-Vreeland Act created a National Monetary Commission, the predecessor of the Federal Reserve system as the US central bank. Aldrich's daughter married John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Their son Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller became Vice President under President Ford. Irregular left edge where page was removed from an album. Lightly toned at edges. Otherwise, fine condition.