William Peters Hepburn
| William P. Hepburn | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 8th district |
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In office March 4, 1881 – March 3, 1887 March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1909 |
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| Preceded by |
William Fletcher Sapp (1st) James Patton Flick (2nd) |
| Succeeded by |
Albert R. Anderson (1st) William Darius Jamieson (2nd) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
November 4, 1833 Wellsville, Ohio |
| Died | February 7, 1916 (aged 82) |
| Political party | Republican |
| Residence | Clarinda, Iowa |
| Profession | Attorney |
William Peters Hepburn (November 4, 1833 – February 7, 1916) was an American Civil War officer and an eleven-term Republican congressman from Iowa's now-obsolete 8th congressional district, serving from 1881 to 1887, and from 1893 to 1909. According to historian Edmund Morris, "Hepburn was the House's best debater, admired for his strength of character and legal acumen." As chair of one of the most powerful committees in Congress, he guided or sponsored many statutes regulating businesses, including most notably the Hepburn Act of 1906. The Hepburn Act authorized the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission to require railroads to charge "just and reasonable" rates.
Hepburn was born in Wellsville, Columbiana County, Ohio and raised from the age of seven in Iowa City, Iowa. His schooling was limited to a few months in an Iowa City academy. The great-grandson of Revolutionary War officer, printer, and congressman Matthew Lyon, and the great-great-grandson of Thomas Chittenden, the first Governor of Vermont, he was first engaged as an apprentice printer, before studying law. He became prosecuting attorney of Marshall County in 1856 as well as serving as district attorney for the eleventh judicial district from 1856 to 1861. He was also the clerk to the Iowa House of Representatives.
In May 1860, Hepburn was one of two delegates representing counties in the eleventh judicial district at the 1860 Republican National Convention, where Abraham Lincoln was nominated. The following March, when serving a brief term as a lobbyist for those counties in Washington D.C., Hepburn attended Lincoln's presidential inauguration.
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