John F. Lacey

John F. Lacey

John Fletcher Lacey (born May 30, 1841 in New Martinsville , Wetzel County , Virginia , †  September 29, 1913 in Oskaloosa , Iowa ) was an American politician . Between 1889 and 1891 and from 1893 to 1907 he represented the state of Iowa in the US House of Representatives .

Career

John Lacey was born in 1841 in New Martinsville, now part of West Virginia . In 1855 he moved with his parents to Iowa, where the family settled in Oskaloosa. There he attended public schools. He then worked in agriculture and as a bricklayer and paver. During the Civil War , Lacey was a soldier in the Union Army. He was taken prisoner in the meantime, but was released again. At the end of the war he was a staff officer on General Frederick Steele's staff .

After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1865, he began to work in his new profession in Oskaloosa. Lacey was a member of the Republican Party and was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives in 1870 . Between 1880 and 1883 he was a member of the city council of Oskaloosa. He was also a lawyer for that city for some time.

In 1888, Lacey was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the sixth constituency of Iowa , where he succeeded James B. Weaver of the Greenback Party on March 4, 1889 . Since he was defeated by the Democrat Frederick Edward White in the following elections in 1890 , he was only able to complete one term in Congress until March 3, 1891 . Two years later, however, he was able to regain his mandate and then between March 4, 1893 and March 3, 1907, he spent seven consecutive terms in Congress. From 1895 to 1907 he was chairman of the Committee on Public Lands . The Spanish-American War broke out during his time in Congress . At that time the Philippines came under American administration.

In 1894, Lacey introduced a bill to protect Yellowstone National Park in Congress, which was later adopted, slightly modified. In 1900 another successful bill followed ( Lacey Act of 1900 ) in the field of nature conservation. In 1907 a proposal was accepted by Lacey to allow some Indians money to buy land within the reservations. Lacey also supported scientific excavations in the southwestern United States.

In the 1908 election, John Lacey lost to Democrat Daniel W. Hamilton . He then worked again as a lawyer until his death in September 1913.

Web links

• John F. Lacey in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• John F. Lacey in the database of Find a Grave (English)