Charles R. Brayton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Charles Ray Brayton
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | August 16, 1840 Warwick, Rhode Island
|
| Died | September 23, 1910 (aged 70) Providence, Rhode Island
|
| Resting place | Swan Point Cemetery |
| Occupation | Politician, lobbyist |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) |
Antoinette Percival Belden
(m. 1865) |
Charles Ray Brayton (August 16, 1840 – September 23, 1910) was an American politician and lobbyist. A Republican, The New York Times called him the "Blind Boss of Rhode Island," drawing parallels with New York City's disgraced political boss, William "Boss" Tweed.
Biography
Charles R. Brayton was born in Warwick, Rhode Island to William Daniel Brayton and Anna Maud (Clarke) Brayton. In 1857, his father was elected as a Republican representing Rhode Island in the U.S. Congress. In 1859, he began attending Brown University in Providence, but left in the middle of his second year to join the 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery in the Union Army of the American Civil War. He was commissioned as first lieutenant in 1861, promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1863, and to colonel in April 1864. He was honorably mustered out of service in October 1864. In March 1865, along with many others, he received a brevet (honorary promotion) to the rank of brigadier general. That same year, just a month before the end of the war, he married Antoinette Percival Belden.
Political rise
Brayton was commissioned a captain in the 17th Infantry Regiment of the Regular Army in March 1867 and resigned in July of the same year. He was then appointed postmaster of Port Royal, South Carolina, a city that he had helped to capture during the war. He served in a number of political appointments before returning to Warwick to fill the office of Township Clerk, a position that had also been held by his father. In 1870 he declined an appointment by President Ulysses S. Grant as Consul to County Cork in Ireland. In 1874, he became Postmaster of Providence, and in 1880 he was named Chief of the Rhode Island State Police.
Brayton became chairman of the Republican State Committee, a position that he used to become the effective "boss" of the state's Republican-controlled political system for almost thirty years to follow. In 1896, he was named to the Republican National Committee. He served as a delegate to the 1900 Republican National Convention, which nominated incumbent President William McKinley.
Loss of sight
In 1900, Brayton developed cataracts in both eyes, and in 1901 underwent an unsuccessful operation that resulted in one of his eyes being removed. As the cataracts progressed, he became functionally blind in his remaining eye.
The "Brayton Act"
In 1901, faced with a split in the state Republican party following the death in office of Republican Governor William Gregory, Brayton urged the passage of a law shifting power from the office of Governor to the securely Republican State Senate. This law, which became known as the "Brayton Act", granted almost all appointment powers to the State Senate and limited the Governor to naming his own private secretary and a small handful of minor official positions. The legislation served its purpose when Democrat Lucius F. C. Garvin was elected Governor in 1903. The law remained in effect until the "Bloodless Revolution" of 1935, when Democrats took control of the State Senate.
Retirement and death
Brayton failed to install Samuel P. Colt in the United States Senate; incumbent Republican George P. Wetmore ultimately held his seat against fellow Republican Colt and Democrat Robert Hale Ives Goddard, although the protracted struggle left an empty seat in Rhode Island's delegation to the 60th Congress from March 1907 to January 1908.
In July 1907, Brayton resigned from the Executive Committee of the State Central Committee of the Republican Party. He vacated White's offices in the State House later in the year, stating that he had lingered to defy Governor Higgin's demands.
General Brayton was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and the Society of Colonial Wars. He was also highly active in the Grand Army of the Republic.
Brayton died in Providence on September 23, 1910 from diabetes and complications of a broken hip sustained in a fall. He is buried in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.
