Thomas Baldwin (U.S. Politician)

Thomas Edward Baldwin III (September 5th, 1830 -- January 27th, 1922) was a U.S. politician who served both as Governor of and a U.S. Senator from the state of Rhode Island. He was the Republican presidential nominee in 1884 though he narrowly lost the general election to Democrat George Graves.

Early Years
Baldwin was born in Cranston, Rhode Island. The oldest of three sons, Baldwin was the son of then-Rhode Island Governor Thomas Baldwin. (The elder Baldwin, a prominent Democrat nationally, has previously served in the U.S. House and would later serve a term in the U.S. Senate.) Educated at the Irving Institute in Tarrytown, New York, Baldwin was called to work at the family business, The Baldwin and Country Manufacturing Service, at the age of 16. Following the death of his uncle, Alexander Baldwin, in 1854, Baldwin assumed control of the company. Under his leadership, the Baldwin and Country Manufacturing Service quickly became the largest calico printing textile mill in the Northwest.

In 1853, the 23 year-old Baldwin married 17 year-old Lucy Sheldon. Lucy was the daughter of former U.S. Rep. Oliver Sheldon, who, at the time, was well-known as a leader of the anti-Catholic American Party. Baldwin, a presbyterian who rarely attended services though contemporaries described him as being a devout believer, never openly voiced any anti-Catholic or anti-immigrant sentiment. However, he would find his name often associated with the notorious Sheldon and indeed, this would often come back to haunt him in his subsequent presidential campaigns.

Lucy Sheldon died in 1857, shortly after giving birth to a stillborn son. Though Baldwin would rarely mention his first wife in later years, contemporary letters describe him as being heart-broken by Lucy's death.

Politics
Like his father, Baldwin was interested in politics from an early age. In 1854, he was one of the founding members of the U.S. Republican Party and, in 1856, he actively campaigned for the 1st Republican presidential nominee, Zebadiah Winchester. Like most early Republicans, he was outspoken in his opposition to slavery.

In 1860, Baldwin was named as the Republican nominee for governor of Rhode Island. He was subsequently elected over Democrat L. R. Barnton and Francis Conley of the National Unity Party. He was overwhelmingly reelected in 1861 and 1862, both times over Democrat Hoftus Glickson.

At the age of 30, Baldwin was the youngest governor in the country and was often referred to as "the boy governor" in the national media. Both contemporaries and later historians have speculated that Baldwin himself was the originator of this nickname.

Baldwin was an outspoken supporter of the Union cause and President Hannibal Clemson and as Civil War approached, he promised Clemson the support of Rhode Island. Baldwin furthermore accompanied a group of Rhode Island volunteers to what would become the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21st, 1861. Baldwin had earlier stated that the war would last only 48 hours but observing the Confederate victory at Bull Run changed his mind.

In 1862, Baldwin was a prominent member of the Loyal Governors War Conference where he came out strongly for the promotion of Gen. Alexander Crawford to head of the Union Army.

U.S. Senate
In 1863, following the death of U.S. Sen. Benjamin Wickettlee, Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate by the Rhode Island state legislature. Upon taking his seat, Baldwin quickly made a name for himself as one of President Clemson's most outspoken supporters. Following Clemson's assassination in 1865, Baldwin was an early critic of President Thaddeus Cobb and voted to remove Cobb from office in 1868.

However, Baldwin surprised many observers by opposing many in his party by opposing the Reconstruction policies pursued by President Alexander Crawford. Baldwin, in many speeches, claimed to simpy be following the last wishes of President Clemson.

While many observers initially dismissed the youthful and frequently brash Baldwin, he quickly earned the respect of his colleagues. As the nation recovered from the scars of the Civil War, Baldwin made a name for himself as an expert on financial matters and much of his legislative efforts was devoted to paying off the huge national debt that the U.S. had accumulated over the course of the Civil War.

In 1875, he was the principal author of what subsequently became known as the Baldwin Trade Treaty. The treaty normalized relations between the U.S. and Great Britian and was seen as instrumental in the Union's eventual financial recovery following the Panic of 1873.

Marriage to Antonia Chessman
On February 15th, 1864, U.S. Sen. Thomas Baldwin married Antonia Chessman, daughter of Postmaster General Edward Chessman. Antonia was considered to be one of the most beautiful women in Washington and their wedding was one of the most extravagant and opulent social occasions of the year. It was also widely criticized by anti-Clemson politicians and newspapers that claimed that the expensive wedding was an insult at a time when thousands were dying in battle. As well, Edward Chessman was -- at the time -- openly considering running against Clemson in 1864. Baldwin's marriage to Antonia strained his previously close relationship with President Clemson and the rift was apparently never healed before Clemson's subsequent assassination.

While the marriage started out well, quarrelling soon became common with Baldwin and Antonia frequently being seen arguing in public. Despite this, they still had four children: Thomas (b. 1865), Martha (b. 1867), Simon (b. 1870), and Lycastra (b. 1872).

The marriage, by all accounts, was further strained by the Panic of 1873 as Baldwin began to openly criticize Antonia's frequent spending sprees.

Reportedly, by 1879, Antonia was having an open affair with U.S. Senator Enos Seabridge of New York. (Ironically, Seabridge and Baldwin had been rivals for the 1876 presidential nomination.) Reportedly, Baldwin caught Antonio and Seabridge together at the Baldwin estate in Cranston and chased Seabridge off the property with a rifle.

In 1886, following Baldwin's defeat in the 1884 presidential election, the couple were divorced. Though hardly uncommon today, the divorce caused quite a scandal at the time.

Presidential Contender
From early on in his political career, Baldwin was viewed as being a possible candidate for the Presidency of the United States and was often criticized, in the press of the day, for being so openly ambitious.

In 1868, Baldwin was Rhode Island's favorite son candidate for the Republican Presidential campaign but, from the start, openly supported the eventual nominee and winner of the general election, Alexander Crawford.

Baldwin made a far more serious effort to win his party's presidential nomination in 1876 and led in the early balloting at the Republican convention. However, Baldwin was soon hopelessly deadlocked with Enos Seabridge and Baldwin eventually instructed his delegates to support the eventual nominee, Calvin Almond.

In 1880, Baldwin was again the front runner and again, he found himself hopelessly deadlocked with another contender at the Republican Convention, in this case former President Alexander Crawford. Again, Baldwin eventually withdrew and instructed his delegates to support the eventual nominee, John Hendricks.