Nathan Appleton (6 October 1779-14 July 1861) was a member of the US House of Representatives (NR-MA 1) from 4 March 1831 to 3 March 1833 (interrupting Benjamin Gorham's terms) and from 9 June to 28 September 1842 (interrupting Robert Charles Winthrop's terms). Born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, he worked as a merchant in Boston and introduced the power loom and cotton manufacturing to the United States at Waltham in 1813. In 1821, Appleton cofounded the city of Lowell. He served on the general court throughout the 1810s and 1820s and in Congress, and he was a strong advocate of a national bank and a protective tariff. He died in 1861.