John Fletcher Lacey (May 30, 1841 – September 29, 1913) was an eight-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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

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 ...

. He was also the author of the

Lacey Act of 1900 The Lacey Act of 1900 is a conservation law in the United States that prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported, or sold.United States. Lacey Act (Game). , ch. 553. Approved May 25, 1900. ...

, which made it a crime to ship

illegal Illegal, or unlawful, typically describes something that is explicitly prohibited by law, or is otherwise forbidden by a state or other governing body. Illegal may also refer to: Law * Violation of law * Crime, the practice of breaking the ...

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

across state lines, and the Lacey Act of 1907, which further regulated the handling of tribal funds. As the first federal conservation law, the Lacey Act of 1900 remains one of the foundations of conservation law enforcement.

Background and Civil War service

Lacey was born in

New Martinsville New Martinsville is a city in Wetzel County, West Virginia, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 5,186 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Wetzel County. Geography New Martinsville is located at (39.657465, -80.85 ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

(now

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

). He moved to

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

in 1855 with his parents, who settled in Oskaloosa. He attended the common schools and pursued classical studies. He also engaged in agricultural pursuits, and learned the trades of bricklaying and plastering. In the spring of 1861, when Lacey was twenty years old, the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

began. Lacey joined an infantry in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

in May 1861. He initially enlisted in Company H, 3rd Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment. During his time with the Third Iowa Infantry, he was captured at the Battle of Blue Mills. However, he was soon released on parole. He afterward served as sergeant major in Company D, 33rd Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to lieutenant and reassigned to Company C of that regiment, then promoted to assistant adjutant general on the staff of General

Frederick Steele Frederick Steele (January 14, 1819 – January 12, 1868) was a career military officer in the United States Army, serving as a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was most noted for retaking much of secessionist Arka ...

. He remained in this position until the end of the war. As the war concluded, he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1865, and began to practice law in Oskaloosa. Five years later, he became a member of the

Iowa House of Representatives The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly, the upper house being the Iowa Senate. There are 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state, formed ...

. He was elected to the

for a term beginning in 1870. He was later elected to the Oskaloosa City Council in 1880, serving until 1883. He served one term as city solicitor. On April 12, 1902, Lacey accepted membership into the

Boone and Crockett Club The Boone and Crockett Club is an American nonprofit organization that advocates fair chase hunting in support of habitat conservation. The club is North America's oldest wildlife and habitat conservation organization, founded in the United Stat ...

, a wildlife conservation organization founded by

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

in 1887.Boone and Crockett Archives
/ref>

Congressional service

In 1888, he was nominated by the Republican Party to challenge incumbent

Greenback Party The Greenback Party (known successively as the Independent Party, the National Independent Party and the Greenback Labor Party) was an American political party with an anti-monopoly ideology which was active between 1874 and 1889. The party ran ...

Congressman James Weaver, who was seeking re-election to his fourth term as representative of Iowa's 6th congressional district. Lacey unseated Weaver. Lacey served one term (as a member of the

Fifty-first United States Congress The 51st United States Congress, referred to by some critics as the Billion Dollar 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 Rep ...

), but was defeated in the 1890 Democratic landslide by Democrat Frederick Edward White. Two years later, however, Lacey reclaimed his seat from White, and served seven consecutive terms, as a member of the Fifty-third through the Fifty-ninth Congresses. He served twelve years as the chairman of the Committee on Public Lands, in the Fifty-fourth through Fifty-ninth Congresses. However, in 1906, when running for a ninth term, Lacey was unseated by Democrat Daniel W. Hamilton. After leaving Congress, Lacey practiced law until his death in Oskaloosa on September 29, 1913.

The Lacey Act of 1894

Congressman Lacey was an enthusiastic defender of

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

and in 1894, in response to the inability of park administrators to punish poachers of the park's wildlife, Lacey sponsored legislation to give the Department of Interior authority arrest and prosecute law violators in the park. Although only known as the Lacey Act in the context of Yellowstone National Park, in May 1894 congress passed ''An Act To protect the birds and animals in Yellowstone National Park, and to punish crimes in said park, and for other purposes.'' which became the cornerstone of future law enforcement policies in the park.

The Lacey Act of 1900

Today, Lacey is most prominently known as the namesake of the Lacey Act of 1900. The Act, which is codified in as amended at 16 U.S.C. §§ 3371-3378, protects both plants and wildlife by creating civil and criminal penalties for a wide array of violations.Rebecca F. Wisch,
Overview of the Lacey Act
" Michigan State University - Detroit College of Law (2003)(accessed 2009-04-25). Most notably, the Act prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported or sold. Congressman Lacey introduced the bill in the spring of 1900. It was signed into law on May 25, 1900 by President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

after passing both houses of Congress.

The Lacey Act of 1907

Another major legislative initiative—also known as "The Lacey Act," but approved in the lame duck session after his 1906 defeat and signed into law in his final week in Congress—made provision for the allotment of tribal funds to certain classes of Indians. These provisions were proposed after the passage of the

Burke Act The Burke Act (1906), formally known as the General Allotment Act Amendment of 1906 and also called the Forced Fee Patenting Act, amended the Dawes Act of 1887 under which the communal land held by tribes on the Indian reservations was broken up ...

and the

Dawes Act The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pre ...

, both of which provided for the allotment of reservation lands to individual Indians, but not to communally owned trust funds. After much debate and several opposing arguments, President

signed the bill into law on March 2, 1907.U.S. Internal Revenue Service
What are some major acts of Congress with regard to Indian issues?
(accessed 2009-04-25).

The Antiquities Act

Lacey is also significant in the history of the

conservation movement The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the f ...

for his role in writing (with the help of

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

Edgar Lee Hewett Edgar Lee Hewett (November 23, 1865 – December 31, 1946) was an American archaeologist and anthropologist whose focus was the Native American communities of New Mexico and the southwestern United States. He is best known for his role in ...

) and enacting the

Antiquities Act The Antiquities Act of 1906 (, , ), is an act that was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906. This law gives the President of the United States the authority to, by presidential procla ...

. The act has been pivotal to the preservation of major

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

sites in the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

References

* Prucha, Francis Paul. 'Documents of United States Indian Policy: Third Edition'. University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln, Nebraska. 2000. Pg. 208
John Fletcher LACEY — Infoplease.com
at www.infoplease.com

at www.animallaw.info

at www.irs.gov

External links

*
Richard West Sellars, "A Very Large Array: Early Federal Historic Preservation--The Antiquities Act, Mesa Verde, and the National Park Service Act"(background information on John F. Lacey, and legislative history) published by the University of New Mexico School of Law, 2007.
Retrieved on 2008-11-01 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lacey, John F. 1841 births 1913 deaths Republican Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives Iowa lawyers National Park Service People from New Martinsville, West Virginia People from Oskaloosa, Iowa People of Iowa in the American Civil War Union Army generals Iowa city council members Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers