John A. Kasson
| John Adam Kasson | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 7th district |
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In office March 4, 1881 – July 13, 1884 |
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| Preceded by | Edward H. Gillette |
| Succeeded by | Hiram Y. Smith |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 7th district |
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In office March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1877 |
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| Preceded by | District established |
| Succeeded by | Henry J. B. Cummings |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 5th district |
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In office March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1867 |
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| Preceded by | District established |
| Succeeded by | Grenville M. Dodge |
| Member of the Iowa House of Representatives | |
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In office 1868-1872 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 11, 1822 Charlotte, Vermont |
| Died | May 18, 1910 (aged 88) Washington, D.C. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Profession | Politician, Lawyer |
John Adam Kasson (January 11, 1822 – May 18, 1910) was a nineteenth-century lawyer, politician and diplomat from south-central Iowa. Elected to the U.S. House six times, he repeatedly interrupted his congressional service to serve in the Diplomatic service in many different capacities.
He was born in Charlotte, Vermont on January 11, 1822 to John Steele Kasson and Nancy Blackman. Kasson attended local school as a child and later graduated from the University of Vermont in 1842. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, commencing practice in St. Louis, Missouri. He moved to Des Moines, Iowa in 1857 and commenced practice there.
He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1860, where he quickly rose to a position of great influence. Appointed as Iowa's representative on the platform committee, he was one of five delegates on the subcommittee responsible for reconciling competing resolutions into a coherent platform, and in the end was the principal draftsman of the final product, including the antislavery planks that were referenced by southern states as they seceded upon Abraham Lincoln's election. In 1861, President Lincoln appointed Kasson as First Assistant Postmaster General, a position he held until August 1862.
In 1862 Kasson was elected a Republican to represent Iowa's new 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. His district included 22 counties in the southwestern quadrant of Iowa, including the city of Des Moines. He represented that district for two terms, from 1863 to 1867. There, he served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures from 1863 to 1867, during which time the Metric Act of 1866, which he drafted, was passed. He was a commissioner from the United States to the International Postal Congress in Paris, France in 1863. However, in 1866 he lost the Republican nomination to Civil War and Indian Campaign General Grenville M. Dodge. Afterward, he was a commissioner from the United States to negotiate postal conventions with Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Italy in 1867.
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