Richard P. Bland

Richard Parks Bland (August 19 1835 – June 15 1899), American school teacher, lawyer, and Democratic Congressman from 1873 until 1899.

Born near Hartford, Ohio, he graduated with a teacher’s certificate from the Hartford Academy, and taught school there for two years. He moved to Wayne County, Missouri at age 20, in 1855, and then to California soon after. Then he moved to the western portion of the Utah Territory, part of present day western Nevada, where he taught school, and tried his hand at prospecting and mining. While teaching school he studied law, and after passing the bar, began practicing in Virginia City and Carson City. Bland had a keen interest in the mining industry, which was the main stay of the western Nevada economy. His first elected office was treasurer of Carson County, 1860-1864.

In 1865 he returned to Missouri, and set up a law practice, with his brother C.C. Bland, in the town of Rolla, in central Missouri. Four years later, 1869, he moved to nearby Lebanon. Because a predecessor of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad had recently laid track through Lebanon, it was seen as more commercially viable.

In 1872, he was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives in the 43rd Congress. He was re-elected to the House ten times, narrowly defeated in 1894, regained his seat in 1896, was re-elected in 1898, and died in 1899. He was chairman of the Committee on Mines and Mining in the 44th Congress. He was chairman of the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures in the 48th Congress, 49th Congress, 50th Congress, 52nd Congress, and 53rd Congress.

In 1878, along with William Allison (R-IA), he sponsored the Bland-Allison Act (which was later replaced by the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890). This bill was a compromise for silver miners and the "common man" who were left holding silver coinage after the passage of the Fourth Coinage Act (or Coinage Act of 1873–also called the "Crime of '73!").

He was known as both "The Great Commoner" and "Silver Dick", nicknames that reflected his efforts to help both the common man and the silver miners. His 25 year campaign for a bimetallic standard made him a friend and advocate for western miners. He was also against any expansionist actions by the United States, voting against annexing Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

Bland lost the hard-fought 1896 Democratic presidential nomination to the "great orator", William Jennings Bryan, then threw his support behind Bryan, who lost the Presidential election to William McKinley.

He married Virginia Mitchell of Rolla in 1873. Together, they had six children, Theodric, Ewing, Frances, John, George, and Virginia. He died in 1899 while still serving his country, and is buried at the Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Lebanon, Missouri.

External links

* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000544 Congressional Biography]