Orville Hitchcock Platt (July 19, 1827 – April 21, 1905) was a

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. Platt was a prominent conservative Republican and by the 1890s he became one of the "big four" key Republicans who largely controlled the major decisions of the Senate, along with

William B. Allison William Boyd Allison (March 2, 1829 – August 4, 1908) was an American politician. An early leader of the Iowa Republican Party, he represented northeastern Iowa in the United States House of Representatives before representing his state in t ...

of Iowa,

John Coit Spooner John Coit Spooner (January 6, 1843June 11, 1919) was an American lawyer and Republican politician from Hudson, Wisconsin. He represented Wisconsin as a United States Senator from 1885 to 1891, then again from 1897 to 1907. In his latter stint ...

of Wisconsin and

Nelson W. Aldrich Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich (/ ˈɑldɹɪt͡ʃ/; November 6, 1841 – April 16, 1915) was a prominent American politician and a leader of the Republican Party in the United States Senate, where he represented Rhode Island from 1881 to 1911. By the ...

of Rhode Island.

Early life

Born in

Washington, Connecticut Washington is a rural town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in the North Eastern region of the United States. The population was 3,646 at the 2020 census. Washington is known for its picturesque countryside, historic architecture, and active ...

, he attended the common schools and graduated from

The Gunnery The Frederick Gunn School is a private, coeducational, boarding and day prep school for students in grades 9–12 and postgraduate, located in rural Connecticut, United States. The campus borders the village green of Washington, a small, hi ...

in Washington. He studied law in Litchfield, and was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

in 1850, commencing practice in

Towanda, Pennsylvania Towanda is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in, and the county seat of, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, Bradford County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and is located northwest of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylv ...

. He moved to

Meriden, Connecticut Meriden ( ) is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is part of the South Central Connecticut Planni ...

in 1850 and continued to practice law. He later had a son, named

James Perry Platt James Perry Platt (March 31, 1851 – January 26, 1913) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Education and career Born in Towanda, Pennsylvania, to Senator Orville H. Platt, he ...

, who became Judge of the United States District Court.

Political career

He was

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

of the

Connecticut Senate The Connecticut State Senate is the upper house of the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The state senate comprises 36 members, each representing a district with around 99,280 inhabitants. Se ...

in 1855 and 1856,

Secretary of the State of Connecticut The secretary of the state of Connecticut is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Connecticut. (The definite article is part of the legal job title.) It is an elected position in the state government and has a term length of four ...

in 1857, and a member of the State senate in 1861 and 1862. He was a member of the

Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an equal number of districts, with each ...

in 1864 and 1869, and served as

speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

in the latter year. The former Platt National Park in Oklahoma (since 1976 part of the Chickasaw National Recreational Area) was named for him. Platt was state's attorney for

New Haven County New Haven County is a county in the south central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 864,835, making it the third-most populous county in Connecticut. Two of the state's five largest cities, New Ha ...

from 1877 to 1879 and was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 1879. He was re-elected in 1885, 1891, 1897 and 1903 and served from March 4, 1879 to his death. He was chairman of the Committee on

Patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s (Forty-seventh through Forty-ninth and Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Congresses) and a member of the Committees on Pensions (Forty-seventh Congress), Territories (Fiftieth through Fifty-second Congresses),

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n Relations (Fifty-sixth through Fifty-eighth Congresses), and the Judiciary (Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth Congresses). By the 1890s, Platt's influence in the Senate swelled to the point that eventually he was one of the "Senate Four" who largely controlled the Senate, along with

and

. Because of his votes against the Sherman Anti-trust Law, the Eight-Hour Labor Act, and the Anti-Injunction Bill, Platt was denounced by the labor organizations and was considered a reactionary. He was an earnest advocate of the abolition of secret executive sessions of the Senate. In the U.S. Senate, Platt presided over the

impeachment trial An impeachment trial is a trial that functions as a component of an impeachment. Several governments utilize impeachment trials as a part of their processes for impeachment. Differences exist between governments as to what stage trials take place ...

of Judge

Charles Swayne Charles Swayne (August 10, 1842 – July 5, 1907) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. In 1904, he was impeached, but remained on the bench after the impeachment trial ended ...

, which was held in late 1904 and early 1905. On March 1, 1901, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Army Appropriation bill with the

Platt Amendment The Platt Amendment was a piece of United States legislation enacted as part of the Army Appropriations Act of 1901 that defined the relationship between the United States and Cuba following the Spanish–American War.Sons of the American Revolution The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), formally the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR), is a federally chartered patriotic organization. The National Society, a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Louisvi ...

Platt National Park

In 1902, Platt introduced legislation to establish the 640-acre Sulphur Springs Reservation, protecting about 30 mineral springs, in

Murray County, Oklahoma Murray County is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,904. The county seat is Sulphur. The county was named for William H. Murray, a member and president of the Okla ...

, (then part of Indian Territory). On June 29, 1906, Congress redesignated the reservation as Platt National Park, named for the senator. It remained one of the smallest national park in the United States until it was abolished by Congress and made part of the much larger Chickasaw National Recreation Area in 1976.Cold Splinters. "Platt National Park/Oklahoma Oasis."
Retrieved December 22, 2013. Yale gave him the degree of

LL.D. A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

in 1887. Platt died on April 21, 1905, aged 77, at his summer home, "Kirby Corners", in Washington, CT, and was interred in the Cemetery on the Green in the same town. One of the two public high schools in Meriden was named for Platt when it opened in 1958.

References

Sources

* L. A. Coolidge, ''An Old-Fashioned Senator: Orville H. Platt'' (New York, 1910)

External links