Burton C. Cook

Burton C. Cook

Burton Chauncey Cook (born May 11, 1819 in Pittsford , New York , †  August 18, 1894 in Evanston , Illinois ) was an American politician . Between 1865 and 1871 he represented the state of Illinois in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Burton Cook attended the Collegiate Institute in Rochester . After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1835, he began to work in this profession from 1840 in Ottawa (Illinois). Between 1846 and 1852 he was a prosecutor in the Illinois Ninth Judicial District. Politically, he became a member of the Republican Party founded in 1854 . He was a member of the Illinois Senate from 1852 to 1860 . In the years 1860 and 1864 he was a delegate to the respective Republican National Conventions , at which Abraham Lincoln was nominated as a presidential candidate. In the spring of 1861 he was a member of a negotiating commission that unsuccessfully tried to prevent the outbreak of civil war in the federal capital, Washington .

In the congressional elections of 1864 Cook was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the sixth constituency of Illinois , where he succeeded Jesse O. Norton on March 4, 1865 . After three re-elections, he could remain in Congress until his resignation on August 26, 1871 . From 1867 to 1869, Cook chaired the Roads and Canals Committee; from 1869 he was chairman of the committee for the administration of the federal district of Columbia . Between 1865 and 1869, the work of Congress was marked by tension between Republicans and President Andrew Johnson , which culminated in a narrowly unsuccessful impeachment trial. During Cook's time in Congress, the 13th , 14th, and 15th amendments were ratified.

After his time in the US House of Representatives ended, Burton Cook practiced law again. He died in Evanston on August 18, 1894.

Web links

• Burton C. Cook in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Burton C. Cook in the database of Find a Grave (English)