Matthew Hale Carpenter


Carpenter, Matthew Hale (b. Decatur Merritt Hammond Carpenter)

(1824–81) lawyer, U.S. senator; born in Moretown, Vt. Having moved to Wisconsin where he practiced law, he was elected to the U.S. Senate (Rep., Wis.; 1869–75, 1879–81). An abolitionist sympathizer, he supported the Union and emancipation for the slaves during the Civil War. He was so highly regarded as a lawyer that he was employed by William Belknap (1876) after he was charged with corruption as secretary of the treasury and by Samuel Tilden in his unsuccessful appeal before the Electoral Commission (1876).