Bernhart Henn (1817 – August 30, 1865) was a pioneer lawyer and businessman, and a two-term Democratic

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from Iowa's 1st congressional district during Iowa's first decade of statehood. Henn was born in Cherry Valley,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1817. He attended the common schools and moved to what is now

Burlington, Iowa Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of, Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 23,982 in the 2020 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in 2000. Burlington is the center of a micropolitan area, which includes ...

, then capital of Iowa Territory, in 1838. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Burlington. He later moved to Fairfield, Iowa, when he was appointed register of the United States land office in 1845 by President James K. Polk. 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 Hawk-Eye is a computer vision system used in numerous sports such as cricket, tennis, Gaelic football, badminton, hurling, rugby union, association football and volleyball, to visually track the trajectory of the ball and display a profile o ...

") labelled him a "

Locofoco The Locofocos (also Loco Focos or Loco-focos) were a faction of the Democratic Party in American politics that existed from 1835 until the mid-1840s. History The faction, originally named the Equal Rights Party, was created in New York City as a ...

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

Thirty-second Congress The 32nd 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, ...

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

Thirty-third Congress The 33rd 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, ...

. In December 1854, Henn tried and failed to win election in the Iowa General Assembly to the U.S. Senate, losing to James Harlan."Legislative Proceedings," Burlington Tri-Weekly Hawk-Eye, 1854-12-28 at p. 2. Meanwhile,

Augustus Hall Augustus Hall (April 29, 1814 – February 1, 1861), a lawyer, was a one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 1st congressional district, and chief justice of the Nebraska Territory. Biography Born in Batavia, New York, Hall was the ...

, 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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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henn, Bernhart 1817 births 1865 deaths People from Cherry Valley, New York Politicians from Burlington, Iowa Iowa lawyers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa People from Fairfield, Iowa People from Otsego County, New York 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers

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