Maecenas Eason Benton

Maecenas Eason Benton (born January 29, 1848 near Dyersburg , Tennessee , †  April 27, 1924 in Springfield , Missouri ) was an American politician . Between 1897 and 1905 he represented the state of Missouri in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Maecenas Benton was a great-nephew of US Senator Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858). He attended the public schools of his home country and later studied at Saint Louis University . During the Civil War he served in the Confederation Army . After studying law and being admitted to the bar, he began working in this profession in Neosho, Missouri. Between 1878 and 1884 he served as a prosecutor in Newton County there . Benton was a federal attorney from 1885 to 1889 . At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . In 1896 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago , where William Jennings Bryan was first nominated as a presidential candidate.

In the congressional election of 1896 , Benton was elected to the 15th constituency of Missouri in the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , where he succeeded Charles Germman Burton on March 4, 1897 . After three re-elections, he was able to complete four legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1905 . During this time the Spanish-American War of 1898 fell . In 1904 Benton was defeated by Republican Cassius M. Shartel . After leaving the US House of Representatives, he returned to practice as a lawyer in Neosho. In 1922 and 1924 he was a delegate to meetings to revise the Missouri Constitution. He died in Springfield on April 27, 1924 and was buried in Neosho.

Web links

• Maecenas Eason Benton in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Maecenas Eason Benton in the database of Find a Grave (English)