Henry M. Rice
United States Senator fromMinnesota
In office May 11, 1858 – March 3, 1863
Preceded by	Seat established
Succeeded by	Alexander Ramsey
Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from theMinnesota Territory's at-large district
In office March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1857
Preceded by	Henry Sibley
Succeeded by	William W. Kingsbury
Personal details
Born	Henry Mower Rice (1816-11-29)November 29, 1816 Waitsfield, Vermont, U.S.
Died	January 15, 1894(1894-01-15) (aged 77) San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Resting place	Oakland Cemetery Saint Paul,Ramsey County, Minnesota, U.S.
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Matilda Whital
Children	9

Henry Mower Rice (November 29, 1816 – January 15, 1894) was afur trader and an Americanpolitician prominent in the statehood ofMinnesota.

Henry Rice was born on November 29, 1816, inWaitsfield, Vermont to Edmund Rice and Ellen (Durkee) Rice. Both Edmund and Ellen were of entirely English ancestry; their ancestors had been inNew England since the early 1600s.^[1] Rice lived with family friends from an early age due to the death of his father.^[2]

When Rice was 18, he moved toDetroit, Michigan, and participated in the surveying of the canal route around the rapids ofSault Ste. Marie betweenLake Superior andLake Huron.

In 1839 Rice secured a job atFort Snelling, near what is nowMinneapolis, Minnesota. He became afur trader with theHo-Chunk andChippewa (Ojibwe) Indians, attaining a position of prominence and influence. Rice was trusted by the Indians, and he was instrumental in negotiating the United States treaty with theOjibwe Indians in 1847 by which they ceded extensive lands.^[2]

Rice lobbied for the bill to establishMinnesota Territory in 1849 and later served as its delegate to the33rd and34th Congresses from March 4, 1853, to March 4, 1857. In 1856, he was charged with corruption, regarding potentially illegal use of Rice's influence in government to acquire land. He was not expelled. His work on the Minnesota Enabling Act, passed by Congress on February 26, 1857, facilitated Minnesota's statehood.

Henry Rice was a Democrat in the wing of the Minnesota Democratic party sometimes referred to at the time as "Moccasin Democrats" because of his affiliation with the fur trade and the supplying of Indian Agency contracts. He and his one-time partner traderHenry H. Sibley, also a Democrat, had a falling out in 1849 and thereafter were political rivals, Sibley being part of the non-Rice wing of the party.

Rice served as a member of the board of regents of theUniversity of Minnesota from 1851 to 1859 and was president of theMinnesota Historical Society.

H.M. Rice participated in official or unofficial capacities in a number of Indian treaties: the 1846 Winnebago treaty at Washington, the 1847 treaties with Ojibwe at Fond du Lac (Minn) and Leech Lake (Minn.), the 1854 treaty with Ojibwe at LaPointe (Wisc), as a United States Commissioner during 1887 – 1888, with the Ojibwe of Minnesota, and is rumored to have influenced the secondary negotiations with theDakota at St. Paul after the Senate revised the 1851 Dakota treaties of Mendota and Traverse des Sioux (Minnesota). He helped organize the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) removal from the Neutral Ground (Iowa) in 1848 and received a federal contract to re-remove Winnebago in 1850 who had either not removed to Long Prairie (Minnesota Territory) or who had scattered away. Documentation of these activities is in the federalUnited States Congressional Serial Set, newspapers such as theMinnesota Pioneer and thePrairie du ChienPatriot, andWilliam Watts Folwell'sA History of Minnesota (1921).

At statehood in 1858 Rice andJames Shields were elected by the Minnesota legislature asDemocrats to theUnited States Senate. Rice served from Minnesota's admittance on May 11, 1858, to March 4, 1863, in the35th,36th, and37th Congresses. He did not run for a fourth term in congress. In1865, he was the Democratic nominee forGovernor of Minnesota. Once nominated, Rice's campaign struggled to convince the public that he was loyal to the Union and had noconfederate sympathies.^[3]

He died on January 15, 1894, while on a visit toSan Antonio, Texas.

In 1916, the state of Minnesota donateda marble statue of Rice byFrederick Triebel to theNational Statuary Hall Collection at theUnited States Capitol.Rice County, Minnesota is named for him. His brotherEdmund Rice served in theU.S. House of Representatives.

An earlier, 1906, marble statue of Rice byLuella A. Varney Serrao was placed in theMinnesota State Capitol.^[4]

Henry Mower Rice was a direct descendant ofEdmund Rice, an early immigrant toMassachusetts Bay Colony, as follows:^[5][6]

• Henry Mower Rice, son of

• Edmund Rice (March 26, 1784 – May 27, 1829), son of
• Jedediah Rice (b. April 2, 1755), son of

• Ashur Rice (July 6, 1694 – August 20, 1773), son of
• Thomas Rice (June 30, 1654 – 1747), son of
• Thomas Rice (January 26, 1626 – 1682), son of

• Edmund Rice (1594 – May 3, 1663)

Henry Mower Rice married Matilda Whitall of Richmond, Virginia, in March 1849. They resided in St. Paul, Minnesota.

• List of United States senators expelled or censured

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHenry Mower Rice.

• United States Congress."Henry M. Rice (id: R000198)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Henry M. Rice atFind a Grave

• 1816 births
• 1894 deaths
• Delegates to the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota Territory
• Democratic Party United States senators from Minnesota
• Minnesota Democrats
• People from Waitsfield, Vermont
• Rice County, Minnesota
• United States Indian agents
• 19th-century United States senators
• 19th-century United States representatives
• Minnesota gubernatorial candidates

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