James Warren Nye (June 10, 1815 December 25, 1876) was a United States Senator from
NevadaNevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there...
.
He was born in
DeRuyter, New YorkDeRuyter is a town in Madison County, New York, United States. The population was 1,631 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Michiel Adriaenszoon De Ruyter a famous admiral in the Dutch navy....
, he attended the common schools and Homer Academy in
Homer, New YorkHomer is a town in Cortland County, New York, United States. The population was 6,363 at the 2000 census. The name is from the Greek poet Homer.The Town of Homer contains a village called Homer...
; he studied law in
Troy, New YorkTroy is a city in New York, U.S., and the county seat of Rensselaer County. As of the 2000 census, the population was 49,170. Troy's motto is Ilium fuit, Troja est, which means "Ilium was, Troy is."...
, was admitted to the
barBar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:The bar is a dividing line in a courtroom...
, and practiced in
Madison CountyMadison County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2000 census, the population was 69,441. It is named after James Madison, fourth President of the United States of America...
.
Nye was district attorney in 1839 and served as judge of Madison County from 1840 to 1848. He was an unsuccessful Free-Soiler candidate for election to the Thirtieth Congress in 1846, and was first president of
New York City'sThe history of New York City begins with the Wappinger, a subdivision of the Algonquian speaking Lenape, who inhabited Manhattan prior to the arrival of Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, and continues with its founding as "New Amsterdam" by the Dutch in 1624 and the period of English rule and its...
Metropolitan Board of Police, holding that office from 1857 to 1860.
In 1861, Nye was appointed by President
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery...
as Governor of the newly created
Nevada TerritoryThe Territory of Nevada was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until October 31, 1864, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Nevada....
; upon the admission of Nevada as a state into the Union in 1864, he was elected as a
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
to the U.S.
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James Warren Nye (June 10, 1815 December 25, 1876) was a United States Senator from
NevadaNevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there...
.
Biography
He was born in
DeRuyter, New YorkDeRuyter is a town in Madison County, New York, United States. The population was 1,631 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Michiel Adriaenszoon De Ruyter a famous admiral in the Dutch navy....
, he attended the common schools and Homer Academy in
Homer, New YorkHomer is a town in Cortland County, New York, United States. The population was 6,363 at the 2000 census. The name is from the Greek poet Homer.The Town of Homer contains a village called Homer...
; he studied law in
Troy, New YorkTroy is a city in New York, U.S., and the county seat of Rensselaer County. As of the 2000 census, the population was 49,170. Troy's motto is Ilium fuit, Troja est, which means "Ilium was, Troy is."...
, was admitted to the
barBar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:The bar is a dividing line in a courtroom...
, and practiced in
Madison CountyMadison County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2000 census, the population was 69,441. It is named after James Madison, fourth President of the United States of America...
.
Nye was district attorney in 1839 and served as judge of Madison County from 1840 to 1848. He was an unsuccessful Free-Soiler candidate for election to the Thirtieth Congress in 1846, and was first president of
New York City'sThe history of New York City begins with the Wappinger, a subdivision of the Algonquian speaking Lenape, who inhabited Manhattan prior to the arrival of Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, and continues with its founding as "New Amsterdam" by the Dutch in 1624 and the period of English rule and its...
Metropolitan Board of Police, holding that office from 1857 to 1860.
In 1861, Nye was appointed by President
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery...
as Governor of the newly created
Nevada TerritoryThe Territory of Nevada was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until October 31, 1864, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Nevada....
; upon the admission of Nevada as a state into the Union in 1864, he was elected as a
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
to the U.S. Senate; he was reelected in 1867 and served from December 16 1864 to March 3 1873. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection. While in the Senate, Nye was chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills (Thirty-ninth Congress) and a member of the Committees on Revolutionary Claims (Fortieth Congress) and Territories (Forty-first Congress).
Mark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is extensively quoted...
was briefly Senator Nye's secretary. In
Sketches Old and New he gives an account of their parting, which occurred after Twain supposedly wrote ridiculous letters to constituents, following the Senator's orders not to address controversial issues.
He died in
White Plains, New YorkThe City of White Plains is the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
in 1876 and was interred in
Woodlawn CemeteryLocated in The Bronx, Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City. It opened as a rural cemetery in 1863, out in "the country", in what was then southern Westchester County, which was annexed to New York City in 1874...
, New York City.
Nye County, NevadaNye County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 32,485. As of 2007, the population was estimated to be 46,308. At 18,159 total square miles, Nye is the third largest county in terms of area in the United States, excluding the boroughs of Alaska....
, the largest county in the state, is named for James W. Nye.