Robert Gordon Cousins (January 31, 1859 – June 20, 1933) was an eight-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 5th congressional district. He represented the

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

, area for the last eight years of the 19th century and the first eight years of the 20th century. Born on a farm, "Indian Lodge," near Tipton, Iowa, in

Cedar County, Iowa Cedar County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,505. Its county seat is Tipton. The county is named for the Cedar River, which runs through the county. Cedar County is located between t ...

, Cousins attended the common schools, and was graduated from

Cornell College Cornell College is a private college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Originally the Iowa Conference Seminary, the school was founded in 1853 by George Bryant Bowman. Four years later, in 1857, the name was changed to Cornell College, in honor of iron tyc ...

Mount Vernon, Iowa Mount Vernon is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, adjacent to the city of Lisbon. The population was 4,527 at the time of the 2020 census. Mount Vernon is part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Mount Vernon w ...

, in 1881. After studying law, he was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1882, and engaged in practice in Tipton. In 1886, Cousins was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives. He was chosen by the House as one of the managers to conduct the impeachment proceedings of John L. Brown before the

Iowa Senate The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly, United States. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, ...

in 1886. He served as prosecuting attorney for Cedar County from 1888 to 1890. In 1892, Cousins ran as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

against Democratic Congressman

John Taylor Hamilton John Taylor Hamilton (October 16, 1843 – January 25, 1925) was a businessman from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and a one-term Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa's 5th congressional district. Early life Hamilton w ...

, who had won election to the U.S. House seat for Iowa's 5th congressional district two years earlier. Cousins defeated Hamilton in the general election and thereby became a member of the Fifty-third Congress. He was then re-elected to the seven succeeding Congresses. He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury from the Fifty-fifth through Fifty-ninth Congresses, and chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Sixtieth Congress. In 1908, Cousins declined to be a candidate for renomination. In all, he served in Congress from March 4, 1893 to March 3, 1909. After leaving Congress, Cousins resumed the practice of law in Tipton, and also engaged as a writer and as a

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua br ...

lecturer. He died on June 20, 1933, in

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the tim ...

. He was interred in Red Oak Cemetery, five miles northwest of Tipton.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cousins, Robert Gordon 1859 births 1933 deaths Cornell College alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa People from Cedar County, Iowa