"19th Century Iowa Congressman" John A. Kasson Clipped Signature For Sale

Up for sale "Iowa Congressman" John A. Kasson Clipped Signature. 

ES-7170E

John

Adam Kasson (January 11, 1822

– May 18, 1910) was a nineteenth-century lawyer, politician and diplomat from

south-central Iowa. Elected to the U.S. House six times, he repeatedly interrupted his

congressional service to serve in the Diplomatic service in

many different capacities. He was born in Charlotte, Vermont on

January 11, 1822 to John Steele Kasson and Nancy Blackman. Kasson attended

local school as a child and later graduated from the University of Vermont in

1842. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, commencing practice in St. Louis, Missouri. He

moved to Des Moines, Iowa in

1857 and commenced practice there. He was a delegate to the Republican

National Convention in 1860, where he quickly rose to a

position of great influence. Appointed as Iowa's representative on the platform

committee, he was one of five delegates on the subcommittee responsible for

reconciling competing resolutions into a coherent platform, and in the end was

the principal draftsman of the final product, including the antislavery planks

that were referenced by southern states as they seceded upon Abraham Lincoln's election. In Kasson as First Assistant Postmaster General, a position he held

until August 1862. In

1862, Kasson was elected new 5th congressional district in the United

States House of Representatives. His district included 22 counties

in the southwestern quadrant of Iowa, including the city of Des Moines. He

represented that district for two terms, from 1863 to 1867. There, he served as

chairman of the United States House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures from

1863 to 1867, during which time the Metric Act of 1866,[3] which he drafted, was passed. He was a commissioner from the United States to the International Postal Congress

in Paris, France in 1863. However, in 1866 he lost the

Republican nomination to Civil

War and Indian Campaign General Grenville M. Dodge.

Afterward, he was a commissioner from the United States to negotiate postal conventions with Great Britain, France, Belgium, In 1868 he was elected to the Iowa House of

Representatives, where he served until 1872. That year he was

returned to the U.S. House to represent Iowa's new 7th

congressional district, made up of ten counties in south-central

Iowa. He represented that district in Congress for four years, serving from

1873 to 1877. He did not seek renomination in 1876, even though the New

York Times reported that summer that he would have "good chances

of success" as a candidate to become the next Speaker of the House. In

1877 Kasson was appointed Envoy

Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to B. Hayes, a

position he held until early 1881. At his suggestion, the four dollar Stella pattern

coins were minted in 1879 and 1880. In

1880 he ran once again for Congress, again winning the Republican nomination

and general election to represent Iowa's 7th congressional district in the U.S.

House. Once again, he was re-elected. His final period in Congress ended in

1884, when he was appointed Envoy and Head of the U.S.

Legation at Berlin, Germany by President Chester A. Arthur. He served in that position until 1885, when

he was named as a special envoy to the Congo Conference in Berlin. He was also a special envoy to the Samoan

International Conference in 1889. Kasson was a the United States to negotiate reciprocity treaties in 1897

and was a member of the United States and British Joint High Commission to adjust differences

with Canada in 1898. Kasson died in Washington, D.C. on May 18, 1910 and was Des Moines.