Christian William Ramseyer (March 13, 1875 – November 1, 1943) was a nine-term

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 ...

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 6th congressional district Iowa's 6th congressional district is a former U.S. congressional district in the State of Iowa. It existed in elections from 1862 to 1992, when it was lost due to Iowa's population growth rate being lower than that of the country as a whole. T ...

Biography

He was born on March 13, 1875 near

Collinsville, Ohio Collinsville is an unincorporated community and former village in southeastern Milford Township, Butler County, Ohio, United States. It has a post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such ...

. Ramseyer moved to

Davis County, Iowa Davis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,110. The county seat is Bloomfield. Davis County is included in the Ottumwa, IA Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Davis County was ...

, in 1887 and settled near Pulaski. He attended the public schools. He graduated from the Southern Iowa Normal School in 1897 and from

Iowa State Teachers College The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences and gra ...

Cedar Falls, Iowa Cedar Falls is a city in Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 40,713. It is home to the University of Northern Iowa, a public university. History Cedar Falls was first settled in March 1845 by ...

, in 1902. He taught school for nine years, and was principal and later superintendent of the Bloomfield High School in

Bloomfield, Iowa Bloomfield is a city in Davis County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,682 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Davis County. Geography Bloomfield is located in the southeastern part of Iowa, near the Missouri border. Bloomfiel ...

. He was graduated from the

University of Iowa College of Law The University of Iowa College of Law is the law school of the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. It was founded in 1865. Iowa is ranked the 28th-best law school in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or U ...

in 1906. 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 ...

the same year and commenced the practice of law in Bloomfield. He served as

prosecuting attorney A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...

of Davis County from 1911 to 1915. In 1914, Ramseyer was elected as a

to the

Sixty-fourth Congress The 64th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1915, to M ...

. He was re-elected eight consecutive times. However, in 1931, Iowa lost two congressional seats, and the resulting

reapportionment Apportionment is the process by which seats in a legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions, such as states or parties, entitled to representation. This page presents the general principles and issues related to apportionme ...

placed Ramseyer and former 8th congressional district congressman

Lloyd Thurston Lloyd Thurston (March 27, 1880 – May 7, 1970) was a seven-term Republican U.S. Representative from southern Iowa. First elected in 1924, he served until 1938, when he unsuccessfully sought election to the U.S. Senate. By his final term, he had ...

in the same district (

Iowa's 5th congressional district Iowa's 5th congressional district is an obsolete congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa. It was last represented by Republican Steve King in 2013, who continued to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives after the district's obsoles ...

). In 1932 the two incumbents opposed each other for the Republican nomination for that district, but Thurston prevailed in the primary."Result of the Fight for Iowa Congressmen," Oelwein Daily Register, 1932-06-08, at p. 1. In all, Ramseyer served in the House from March 4, 1915 to March 3, 1933. After his defeat, he served as commissioner for the

United States Court of Claims The Court of Claims was a federal court that heard claims against the United States government. It was established in 1855, renamed in 1948 to the United States Court of Claims (), and abolished in 1982. Then, its jurisdiction was assumed by the n ...

from 1933 until his death in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, on November 1, 1943. He was interred in Odd Fellows Cemetery in Bloomfield.

Legacy

Congressman Ramseyer originated what is now known as the Ramseyer Rule (Clause 3(e) of Rule XIII of the Standing Rules of the United States House of Representatives) that requires bills to show exactly how a bill would change existing law. Bills reported out of full House committees now include 'Ramseyering' which shows repealed or deleted portions of existing law surrounded in boldface brackets, and new additions to law shown in italic typeface. These conventions have been adopted by many other legislative bodies. A Ramseyer document shows only those provisions of existing federal statutes which are amended by the bill (as reported) and is included in the House report filed by the full committee.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramseyer, Christian William 1875 births 1943 deaths American prosecutors University of Northern Iowa alumni University of Iowa College of Law alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa People from Butler County, Ohio People from Davis County, Iowa People from Bloomfield, Iowa