Henry A. Cooper

Henry A. Cooper

Henry Allen Cooper (born September 8, 1850 in Spring Prairie , Walworth County , Wisconsin , †  March 1, 1931 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician . Between 1893 and 1919 and again from 1921 to 1931 he represented the state of Wisconsin in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Henry Cooper came to Burlington with his parents as a toddler in 1851 . There he attended public schools including high school, which he graduated from in 1869. He then studied until 1873 at Northwestern University in Evanston ( Illinois ). After a subsequent law degree in Chicago and his admission to the bar, he began to work in Burlington in his new profession. He was elected district attorney in Racine County in 1880, 1882 and 1884 . From 1881 he lived in the city of Racine . Politically, Cooper was a member of the Republican Party . In 1884, 1908 and 1924 he was a delegate to the respective Republican National Conventions . He was a member of the Wisconsin Senate from 1887 to 1889 . There he was instrumental in the introduction of secret elections at the state level.

In 1890 Cooper ran unsuccessfully for Congress . In the congressional elections of 1892 he was then elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington in the first constituency of Wisconsin, where he succeeded Democrat Clinton Babbitt on March 4, 1893 . After twelve re-elections, he was initially able to complete 13 legislative periods in Congress by March 3, 1919. During this time the 16th , 17th and 18th amendments to the constitution were passed. In 1898 the Spanish-American War broke out . Between 1917 and 1918 the events of the First World War also shaped the work of the Congress. From 1897 to 1899, Cooper was chairman of the Committee on Rivers and Harbors . He was then chairman of the Committee on Insular Affairs from 1899 to 1909 . In 1902 he was instrumental in the Philippine Organic Act . This law created the first constitution in the Philippines since the United States took over the area in 1898.

In the 1918 election , Cooper was not confirmed. That was partly due to his opposition to American participation in World War I. Two years later he was able to regain his seat in Congress, which he had lost to Clifford E. Randall . After five re-elections, he remained in the US House of Representatives until his death on March 1, 1931. Since he was also elected in 1930, he could have started a new legislative period three days after his death on March 4, 1931. His last years in the US House of Representatives were shaped by the events of the Great Depression. After a by-election, his mandate went to Thomas Ryum Amlie . Henry Cooper was buried in Racine.

Web links

• Henry A. Cooper in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Henry A. Cooper in the database of Find a Grave (English)