What is Henry M. Rice?
[[File:Henry Mower Rice by Mathew Brady circa 1863.jpg|thumb|right|250px|{{Center|Photograph of Senator Henry Mower Rice by [[photographer]] [[Mathew Brady]]}}]] '''Henry Mower Rice''' (November 29, 1816{{spaced ndash}}January 15, 1894) was a [[fur trade]]r, [[commissioner]] and one of the first [[United States Senator]]s from [[Minnesota]]. == Early life == Henry Rice was born on November 29, 1816, in [[Waitsfield, Vermont|Waitsfield]], [[Vermont]].<ref name=Bioguide>{{cite web |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000198 |title=RICE, Henry Mower, (1816 - 1894) |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=n.d. |website= |publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |accessdate=17 July 2014 }}</ref> His parents were Edmund Rice and Ellen Durkee Rice. He went to school in [[Detroit]] and [[Kalamazoo, Michigan]].<ref name=Bioguide/> He became a [[sutler]] at Fort Atkinson, Iowa. In 1847 he negotiated a [[treaty]] with the [[Winnebago (tribe)|Winnebago]] and [[Ojibwe|Chippewa]] [[Native American]] [[tribe]]s. In 1848 he settled in [[St. Paul, Minnesota]]. He helped negotiate the [[Treaty of Traverse des Sioux]] in 1851. This opened up parts of Minnesota west of the [[Mississippi River]] to white [[settler]]s.<ref name=Bioguide/> In 1856 Rice, as a territorial delegate, worked hard to secure Congressional land grants for the railroads in Minnesota.<ref>William E. Lass, ''Minnesota: A History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1998), p. 139</ref> ==Political career== Rice lobbied for the bill to establish [[Minnesota Territory]]. He was the delegate to the [[33rd United States Congress|33rd]] and [[34th United States Congress|34th Congresses]] from March 4, 1853 to March 4, 1857. His work on the Minnesota Enabling Act, passed by Congress on Feb. 26, 1857, facilitated Minnesota's statehood. In 1858 Rice was elected as a [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]] to the [[United States Senate]]. He served from Minnesota's admittance on May 11, 1858 to March 4, 1863 in