Nehemiah R Knight
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Nehemiah R. Knight

Personal data
Date of birthDecember 31, 1780
Place of birthCranston, Rhode Island, USA
Date of deathApril 18, 1854
Place of deathProvidence, Rhode Island, USA
Political partyDemocratic-Republican, National Republican, Whig
SpouseLydia Waterman Knight
ProfessionPolitician, Clerk
Assumed officeJanuary 9, 1821 - March 3, 1841
Succeeded byJames F. Simmons
Preceded byJames Burrill, Jr.

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Nehemiah Rice Knight (December 31, 1780 - April 18, 1854) was a United States Senator from Rhode Island. Born in Cranston, he attended the common schools. In 1802 he was a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives; he moved to Providence and was clerk of the Court of Common Pleas from 1805 to 1811 and clerk of the circuit court from 1812 to 1817. He was also collector of customs for the same period. He was Governor of Rhode Island from 1817 to 1821 and president of the Roger Williams Bank from 1817 to 1854.

Knight was elected in 1821 as a Democratic-Republican to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James Burrill, Jr.; he was reelected in 1823 as a Crawford Republican, in 1829 as an Anti-Jacksonian, and again in 1835 as a Whig, and served from January 9, 1821, to March 3, 1841. While in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses (Twenty-second, Twenty-third and Twenty-sixth Congresses) and a member of the Committee on Manufactures (Twenty-fourth Congress). Knight retired from public life and was a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1843. He died in Providence in 1854; interment was in Grace Church Cemetery.

Nehemiah Rice Knight's father, Nehemiah Knight, had been a U.S. Representative from Rhode Island.


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Political offices
Preceded by
William Jones
Governor of Rhode Island
1817 - 1821
Succeeded by
William C. Gibbs
United States Senate
Preceded by
James Burrill, Jr.
United States Senator from Rhode Island
Served alongside: William Hunter, James De Wolf, Asher Robbins and Nathan F. Dixon

January 9, 1821 - March 3, 1841
Succeeded by
James F. Simmons


Governors of Rhode Island

Cooke * Greene * Collins * A. Fenner * H. Smith * Wilbour * J. Fenner * Jones * Knight * Gibbs * J. Fenner * Arnold * Francis * Sprague III * King * J. Fenner * Jackson * Diman * Harris * Anthony * Allen * Dimond * Hoppin * Dyer * Turner * Sprague IV * Cozzens * J. Smith * Burnside * Padelford * Howard * H. Lippitt * Van Zandt * Littlefield * Bourn * Wetmore * Davis * Taft * Ladd * Davis * Ladd * Brown * C. Lippitt * Dyer, Jr. * Gregory * Kimball * Garvin * Utter * Higgins * Pothier * Beeckman * San Souci * Flynn * Pothier * Case * Green * Quinn * Vanderbilt * McGrath * Pastore * McKiernan * Roberts * Del Sesto * Notte * Chafee * Licht * Noel * Garrahy * DiPrete * Sundlun * Almond * Carcieri |

United States Senators from Rhode Island

Class 1Foster * Potter * Howland * Malbone * Champlin * Hunter * De Wolf * Robbins * Dixon I * Sprague III * Francis * A. Greene * James * Simmons * Arnold * Sprague IV * Burnside * Aldrich * Lippitt * Gerry * Hebert * Gerry * McGrath * Leahy * Pastore * J. Chafee * L. Chafee * Whitehouse
Class 2Stanton * Bradford * R. Greene * Ellery * Fenner * Mathewson * Howell * Burrill * Knight * Simmons * Clarke * Allen * Anthony * Sheffield * Chace * Dixon III * Wetmore * Colt * Metcalf * Green * Pell * Reed



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