Thomas Brackett Reed
Thomas Brackett Reed (1839-1902) was born on October 18, 1839, in Portland, Maine. Reed would attend public school in Portland, and would later attend Bowdoin College, where he would graduate in 1860. Reed initially intended to become a Christian minister but decided to study law instead. He began his legal studies in Maine but moved to California in late 1861. He would be admitted into the California bar in 1863. He later returned to Maine, and after an eighteen month stint in the Navy during the Civil War, he would be admitted to the Maine bar in 1865. In 1867, Reed would then successfully run as a Republican for the Maine House of Representatives. He would be re-elected to the House of Representatives in 1868, before joining the State Senate in 1869. In the following year, he would be elected as the Attorney General for Maine, a position he would retain for the next three years. Reed would then run for Congress in 1876 and would be elected to the House of Representatives. Reed would rise through the ranks of the Republican Party, and by 1882, he was the effective leader of the House Republicans. When Republicans retook the control of the House in 1888, Reed would be elected as Speaker of the House, where he would oversee the passage of the McKinley Tariff.
In 1896, Reed would seek the Republican presidential nomination, but lost out to William McKinley in the primary. He would return to the speakership role in 1895, but would later resign in September of 1899, after growing disgruntled with the more imperialist and expansionist faction within the Republican Party.
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Reed’s contribution to American Protectionist thought comes primarily from his speeches and addresses made as a Congressman. The two most impressive of his congressional speeches on the topic include The Tariff, which was delivered to the House of Representatives on May 18, 1888, and Reed on the Tariff, which was delivered on February 1, 1894. Both speeches would later circulate in pamphlet format. In addition to his congressional speeches, Reed contributed numerous articles to The North American Review, The American Economist and The Protectionist. In 1896, Reed would also write the introduction to the republication of Calvin Colton’s Works of Henry Clay. After his resignation from Congress in 1899, Reed would return to his legal practice, which he relocated to New York. During a business trip to Washington, DC, three years later, Reed would fall ill in his hotel room. He would be diagnosed with advanced kidney disease, and would pass away on December 7, 1902.