Samuel M. Clark

Samuel Mercer Clark (born October 11, 1842 in Keosauqua , Iowa , † August 11, 1900 in Keokuk , Iowa) was an American politician . Between 1895 and 1899 he represented the state of Iowa in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Samuel Clark attended his home public schools and Des Moines Valley College at West Point, Iowa. After completing a law degree, he was admitted to the bar in 1864. But he hardly worked in this profession. Instead, he became a journalist. For 31 years he was the editor of the Keokuk Daily Gate City newspaper .

Clark was a member of the Republican Party . In 1872, 1876 and 1880 he took part as a delegate to the Republican National Conventions , at which Ulysses S. Grant , Rutherford B. Hayes and James A. Garfield were nominated as presidential candidates. In 1889, Clark was at the World Exhibition in Paris Education Officer ( Commissioner of Education ) of the American delegation. From 1879 to 1885 he worked as a postman in Keokuk. In this city he was also a member of the Education Committee between 1879 and 1894. From 1882 he was chairman of this body.

In 1894, Clark was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the first constituency of Iowa , where he succeeded John H. Gear on March 4, 1895 . After a re-election in 1896, he was able to complete two terms in Congress until March 3, 1899 . During this time the Spanish-American War and the annexation of the former Kingdom of Hawaii to the United States took place. In 1898, Clark declined to run again. He returned to his newspaper and died in Keokuk in August 1900.

Web links

• Samuel M. Clark in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Samuel M. Clark in the database of Find a Grave (English)