He served as the non-voting delegate from the Dakota Territory to the United States House of Representatives.

He attended the Orange County Grammar School in Randolph, and graduated from Alden Partridge's American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy (Norwich University) in 1834.

[1] He studied law in Montpelier, was admitted to the bar in 1839 and practiced in Braintree and West Randolph.

Among the prospective attorneys who studied law under Kidder's supervision were John W. Rowell, who went on to serve as chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court[2] and Carl C. Pope, a legislator and judge in Wisconsin.

In 1859, Kidder moved to Dakota Territory and became a delegate to Congress from the provisional government at Sioux Falls.