Augustus C. Dodge
Encyclopedia
Augustus Caesar Dodge was one of the first set of United States Senator
s to represent the state of Iowa
after it was admitted to the Union as a state in 1846. Dodge, a Democrat
, had also represented Iowa Territory
in Congress
as its delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from 1840 to 1846.
He was born in what is now Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
(then in Louisiana Territory
). Self-educated, he moved to Illinois
in 1827, settled in Galena
, and was employed there in various capacities in his father’s lead mines. He served in the Black Hawk War
and other Indian wars
. In 1837, he moved to what is now Burlington, Iowa
(then in Wisconsin Territory
), where he served as register of the land office until 1840.
Congress created Iowa Territory in 1838, from what was formerly the Iowa District of Wisconsin Territory. As a result of the Act of March 3, 1839, the position of Iowa Territory's Delegate to the U.S. House would become vacant on October 27, 1840, and Dodge was elected to fill it. After initially serving in the Twenty-sixth United States Congress, he was re-elected in 1840 (to the Twenty-seventh Congress), 1842 (to the Twenty-eighth Congress), and 1844 (to the Twenty-ninth Congress). He served as delegate until Iowa became a state in December 1846, and his role was replaced by two voting Representatives.
For its first two years, the Iowa General Assembly
failed to choose Iowa's first U.S. Senators, due to a three-way split that prevented any candidate from earning the required number of 30 legislators' votes. However, after the 1848 elections gave the Democratic Party a greater share of Iowa legislators, Dodge (and George W. Jones
) were elected as Iowa's first two U.S. Senators. By drawing lots, Dodge received the seat with the shorter term (to expire in 1849), but was re-elected that year to a full six-year term. While in the Senate, he served as chairman of the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses (in the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses), the Committee on Pensions (in the Thirty-first Congress), the Committee on Revolutionary Claims (in the Thirty-second Congress), and the Committee on Public Lands (in the Thirty-third Congress).
In 1854, as Dodge's second term was near its end, the Iowa General Assembly chose Free Soil Party
member (and future Republican) James Harlan
, rather than Dodge. Dodge was the preferred choice of Democratic legislators, whose ranks had declined. But in a failed effort to defeat Harlan by uniting Democrats and nationalist Whigs behind a single candidate, Dodge dropped out after the fourth ballot.
Dodge served in the Senate from until February 22, 1855, when President Franklin Pierce
appointed him to the post of minister to Spain
. He served as the minister until 1859.
Dodge unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Iowa in 1859, losing to Republican Samuel J. Kirkwood
. In 1868
, Dodge supported the candidacy of George H. Pendleton
for the Democratic presidential nomination. He served as mayor of Burlington, Iowa
from 1874 to 1875.
He died in Burlington on November 20, 1883, and was interred in Aspen Grove Cemetery.
His father, Henry Dodge
, served as a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin
. They are the first, and so far only father-son pair to serve concurrently in the U.S. Senate. He was also the nephew of Lewis F. Linn
. His brother-in-law James Clarke served as the third and last Governor of Iowa Territory
.
and Dodge Street
in Omaha, Nebraska
were named after Augustus Dodge.
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
s to represent the state of Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
after it was admitted to the Union as a state in 1846. Dodge, a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, had also represented Iowa Territory
Iowa Territory
The Territory of Iowa was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1838, until December 28, 1846, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Iowa.-History:...
in Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
as its delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from 1840 to 1846.
He was born in what is now Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
Ste. Genevieve is a city in and the county seat of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, United States. The population was 11,654 at the 2000 census...
(then in Louisiana Territory
Louisiana Territory
The Territory of Louisiana or Louisiana Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1805 until June 4, 1812, when it was renamed to Missouri Territory...
). Self-educated, he moved to Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
in 1827, settled in Galena
Galena, Illinois
Galena is the county seat of, and largest city in, Jo Daviess County, Illinois in the United States, with a population of 3,429 in 2010. The city is a popular tourist destination known for its history, historical architecture, and ski and golf resorts. Galena was the residence of Ulysses S...
, and was employed there in various capacities in his father’s lead mines. He served in the Black Hawk War
Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict fought in 1832 between the United States and Native Americans headed by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted soon after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos known as the "British Band" crossed the Mississippi River into the U.S....
and other Indian wars
Indian Wars
American Indian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between American settlers or the federal government and the native peoples of North America before and after the American Revolutionary War. The wars resulted from the arrival of European colonizers who...
. In 1837, he moved to what is now Burlington, Iowa
Burlington, Iowa
Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 25,663 in the 2010 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in the 2000 census. Burlington is the center of a micropolitan area including West Burlington, Iowa and Middletown, Iowa and...
(then in Wisconsin Territory
Wisconsin Territory
The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin...
), where he served as register of the land office until 1840.
Congress created Iowa Territory in 1838, from what was formerly the Iowa District of Wisconsin Territory. As a result of the Act of March 3, 1839, the position of Iowa Territory's Delegate to the U.S. House would become vacant on October 27, 1840, and Dodge was elected to fill it. After initially serving in the Twenty-sixth United States Congress, he was re-elected in 1840 (to the Twenty-seventh Congress), 1842 (to the Twenty-eighth Congress), and 1844 (to the Twenty-ninth Congress). He served as delegate until Iowa became a state in December 1846, and his role was replaced by two voting Representatives.
For its first two years, the Iowa General Assembly
Iowa General Assembly
The Iowa General Assembly is the legislative branch of the state government of Iowa. Like the federal United States Congress, the General Assembly is a bicameral body, composed of the upper house Iowa Senate and the lower Iowa House of Representatives respectively...
failed to choose Iowa's first U.S. Senators, due to a three-way split that prevented any candidate from earning the required number of 30 legislators' votes. However, after the 1848 elections gave the Democratic Party a greater share of Iowa legislators, Dodge (and George W. Jones
George W. Jones
George Wallace Jones , a frontiersman, entrepreneur, attorney, and judge, was among the first two United States Senators to represent the state of Iowa after it was admitted to the Union in 1846...
) were elected as Iowa's first two U.S. Senators. By drawing lots, Dodge received the seat with the shorter term (to expire in 1849), but was re-elected that year to a full six-year term. While in the Senate, he served as chairman of the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses (in the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses), the Committee on Pensions (in the Thirty-first Congress), the Committee on Revolutionary Claims (in the Thirty-second Congress), and the Committee on Public Lands (in the Thirty-third Congress).
In 1854, as Dodge's second term was near its end, the Iowa General Assembly chose Free Soil Party
Free Soil Party
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party in the United States active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections. It was a third party and a single-issue party that largely appealed to and drew its greatest strength from New York State. The party leadership...
member (and future Republican) James Harlan
James Harlan (senator)
James Harlan was a member of the United States Senate and a U.S. Cabinet Secretary.-Biography:Harlan represented the state of Iowa in the United States Senate as a member of the Free Soil Party in 1855. In 1857 the Senate declared the seat vacant because of irregularities in the legislative...
, rather than Dodge. Dodge was the preferred choice of Democratic legislators, whose ranks had declined. But in a failed effort to defeat Harlan by uniting Democrats and nationalist Whigs behind a single candidate, Dodge dropped out after the fourth ballot.
Dodge served in the Senate from until February 22, 1855, when President Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States and is the only President from New Hampshire. Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Pierce took part in the Mexican-American War and became a brigadier general in the Army...
appointed him to the post of minister to Spain
United States Ambassador to Spain
-Ambassadors:*John Jay**Appointed: September 29, 1779**Title: Minister Plenipotentiary**Presented credentials:**Terminated mission: ~May 20, 1782*William Carmichael**Appointed: April 20, 1790**Title: Chargé d'Affaires...
. He served as the minister until 1859.
Dodge unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Iowa in 1859, losing to Republican Samuel J. Kirkwood
Samuel J. Kirkwood
Samuel Jordan Kirkwood , was an American politician best known as Iowa's American Civil War Governor. He also served in the U.S. Senate and as U.S. Secretary of the Interior.-Early life and career:...
. In 1868
United States presidential election, 1868
The United States presidential election of 1868 was the first presidential election to take place after the American Civil War, during the period referred to as Reconstruction...
, Dodge supported the candidacy of George H. Pendleton
George H. Pendleton
George Hunt Pendleton was a Representative and a Senator from Ohio. Nicknamed "Gentleman George" for his demeanor, he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States during the Civil War in 1864, running as a peace Democrat with war Democrat George B. McClellan; they lost to...
for the Democratic presidential nomination. He served as mayor of Burlington, Iowa
Burlington, Iowa
Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 25,663 in the 2010 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in the 2000 census. Burlington is the center of a micropolitan area including West Burlington, Iowa and Middletown, Iowa and...
from 1874 to 1875.
He died in Burlington on November 20, 1883, and was interred in Aspen Grove Cemetery.
His father, Henry Dodge
Henry Dodge
Henry Dodge was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Territorial Governor of Wisconsin and a veteran of the Black Hawk War. His son was Augustus C. Dodge with whom he served in the U.S. Senate, the first, and so far only, father-son pair to serve concurrently....
, served as a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. They are the first, and so far only father-son pair to serve concurrently in the U.S. Senate. He was also the nephew of Lewis F. Linn
Lewis F. Linn
Lewis Fields Linn was a Jacksonian Democratic U.S. Senator for the state of Missouri born in Kentucky. He served in that role from 1833 to 1843. Four states named counties in his honor: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Oregon. West Linn, Oregon and Linnton, Oregon also get their name from the ex-senator...
. His brother-in-law James Clarke served as the third and last Governor of Iowa Territory
Iowa Territory
The Territory of Iowa was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1838, until December 28, 1846, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Iowa.-History:...
.
Legacy
Dodge County, NebraskaDodge County, Nebraska
- History :Dodge County was formed in 1855. It was named after the US Senator Augustus Caesar Dodge.- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 36,160 people, 14,433 households, and 9,756 families residing in the county. The population density was 68 people per square mile . There were...
and Dodge Street
Dodge Street
Dodge Street is the main east–west street in Omaha, Nebraska. Numbered as U.S. Route 6, the street starts in Downtown Omaha and connects to West Dodge Road around 78th Street. From there it continues westward through the remainder of Douglas County....
in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
were named after Augustus Dodge.
External links
- Augustus C. Dodge at Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...