Bernhart Henn was a pioneer lawyer and businessman, and a two-term Democratic

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...

 U.S. Representative

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 from Iowa's 1st congressional district

Iowa's 1st congressional district

Iowa's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa that covers the northeastern part of the state. The district includes Dubuque, Clinton, Davenport and Waterloo....

 during Iowa's

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...

 first decade of statehood.

Henn was born in Cherry Valley

Cherry Valley (village), New York

Cherry Valley is a village in Otsego County, New York, United States. The population was 592 at the 2000 census.The Village of Cherry Valley is in the Town of Cherry Valley...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in 1817. He attended the common school

Common school

A common school was a public school in the United States or Canada in the nineteenth century. The term 'common school' was coined by Horace Mann, and refers to the fact that they were meant to serve individuals of all social classes and religions....

s and 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 capital 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:...

, in 1838. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Burlington. He later moved to Fairfield, Iowa

Fairfield, Iowa

Fairfield is a city and the county seat of Jefferson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 9,464 in the 2010 census, a decline from 9,509 in the 2000 census. - History :...

, when he was appointed register of the United States land office

General Land Office

The General Land Office was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department of the Treasury...

 in 1845 by President James K. Polk

James K. Polk

James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States . Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He later lived in and represented Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as the 17th Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 12th Governor of Tennessee...

.

In 1850 he was elected to represent Iowa's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House. While he was officially considered a Democrat, a hostile editor of the first Burlington newspaper (James G. Edwards of the "Hawk-Eye

The Hawk Eye

The Hawk Eye is a general-circulation newspaper based in Burlington, Iowa, and boasts itself as "Iowa's Oldest Newspaper."-History:The newspaper traces its roots to the Wisconsin Territorial Gazette and Burlington Advertiser, which was established July 10, 1837, by James Clarke, and Cyrus Jacobs...

") labelled him a "Locofoco

Locofocos

The Locofocos were a radical faction of the Democratic Party that existed from 1835 until the mid-1840s.  The faction was originally named the Equal Rights Party, and was created in New York City as a protest against that city’s regular Democratic organization .  It contained a mixture of...

," a slang term for a radical faction of the Party. He initially served in the Thirty-second Congress

32nd United States Congress

The Thirty-second United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1851 to March 3, 1853, during the third and...

. After he ran for, and won, re-election in 1852, he served in the Thirty-third Congress

33rd United States Congress

The Thirty-third United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1853 to March 3, 1855, during the first two years...

.

In December 1854, Henn tried and failed to win election in 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...

 to the U.S. Senate, losing to 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...

. Meanwhile, Augustus Hall

Augustus Hall

Augustus Hall , a lawyer, was a one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 1st congressional district, and chief justice of the Nebraska Territory.-Biography:...

, another Democrat, had won election to Henn's House seat. In all, Henn served in the U.S. House from March 4, 1851 to March 3, 1855.

After leaving Congress, Henn engaged in banking and dealing in real estate. He died on August 30, 1865 in Fairfield. He was interred there, in Evergreen Cemetery.

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