Marsena Edgar Cutts

Marsena Edgar Cutts (May 22, 1833 – September 1, 1883) was a nineteenth-century politician and lawyer from Iowa. A Republican, he was most notable for his service as Attorney General of Iowa from 1872 to 1877 and in the United States House of Representatives from March 1881 to March 1883 and again from March 1883 until his death. As a member of the Republican Party representing Iowa, he contributed to the legislative process during two terms in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents during a significant period in American history.

Cutts was born in Orwell, Addison County, Vermont, on May 22, 1833. He attended the common schools in his native village, receiving a basic education typical of rural New England in the mid-nineteenth century. Seeking further instruction, he later studied at St. Lawrence Academy in Potsdam, New York, an institution that provided him with additional academic preparation and helped lay the foundation for his later legal and political career.

In 1853, Cutts moved west to Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, where he taught school for two years while simultaneously studying law. In 1855 he relocated to Oskaloosa, Iowa, continuing his legal studies in the rapidly developing state. That same year he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Montezuma, Iowa. His early professional work quickly brought him into public service: he served as prosecuting attorney of Poweshiek County, Iowa, in 1857 and 1858, gaining experience in criminal law and local governance.

Cutts’s legislative career began with his election to the Iowa House of Representatives in 1861, where he served during the opening years of the Civil War. He subsequently served in the Iowa Senate from 1864 to 1866, participating in state policymaking during the closing phase of the war and the beginning of Reconstruction. Returning to the lower chamber, he was again a member of the Iowa House of Representatives from 1870 to 1872. His growing prominence in state politics led to his election as Attorney General of Iowa, a position he held from 1872 to 1877, during which he oversaw the state’s legal affairs and represented Iowa in significant civil and criminal matters.

In 1880, Cutts sought national office as the Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa’s 6th congressional district. The Democratic and Greenback parties united behind a single opponent, Democrat John C. Cook, resulting in a closely contested election. After the general election, Iowa’s State Board of Canvassers determined that Cutts had won by 106 votes, enabling him to be sworn in at the opening of the 47th United States Congress in March 1881 while Cook pursued a formal contest of the election before the Republican-controlled House. A commissioner took evidence in Oskaloosa in the spring of 1882, but the House Committee on Elections did not reach a decision before the next election in November 1882. In that 1882 contest, the Democratic and Greenback parties nominated separate candidates; Cutts undisputedly received more votes than any other single candidate, although the combined votes against him exceeded his total by more than 5,000. Because his plurality was not in dispute, he was recognized as the winner, securing a term in the 48th United States Congress.

The resolution of the 1880 election contest came only at the end of Cutts’s first congressional term. In February 1883, in the waning days of the 47th Congress, the House Committee on Elections voted 8–2 to recommend that Cook, not Cutts, had actually won the 1880 election. The House accepted this recommendation, unseating Cutts and seating Cook in time for Cook to serve only a single day of the term, on March 3, 1883, and to collect the salary for that Congress. Because Cutts had already been elected without dispute to the succeeding term, his service in the 48th United States Congress began the following day, March 4, 1883, effectively continuing his representation of Iowa in the House despite the formal reversal of the earlier election result.

Cutts was in poor health during his service in Congress, suffering from tuberculosis. His declining condition limited his activities in Washington during his second term. He died of tuberculosis in Oskaloosa, Iowa, on September 1, 1883, while still in office as a member of the 48th Congress. He was interred at Forest Cemetery in Oskaloosa. His death placed him among the members of the United States Congress who died in office in the nineteenth century, and it brought to a close a career that had spanned local, state, and national public service.