Shepherd Leffler was an American legislator and statesman. He represented Iowa's 2nd congressional district in the U. S. House for two terms.
Background
Shepherd Leffler, the son of Jacob and Jane (Smith) Leffler and brother of Isaac Leffler, was born at "Silvia's Plain, " Washington County, Pennsylvania, where his grandfather had settled a generation earlier. His early life was that of a farm boy.
Education
He attended private schools and was graduated from Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania, and from the law department of Jefferson College (now Washington & Jefferson College), in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1833.
Career
Leffler began the practice of his profession in Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia). Deciding to seek his fortune in the West, he migrated in the spring of 1835 to what is now Burlington, Iowa. His father had preceded him to Burlington by a few weeks, and his brother Isaac also took up his residence at this place.
In 1839 Shepherd Leffler was elected to the territorial House of Representatives, and in 1841, to the territorial Council; he served continuously in one house or the other of the legislature from 1839 till the admission of Iowa as a state in 1846. In public speeches and by private influence he resisted the removal of the capital from Burlington to Iowa City, but without success. He was selected as a delegate from Des Moines County to the first constitutional convention in Iowa, held at Iowa City in 1844. When Congress altered the proposed constitution by changing the boundaries of the new state so that it would be cut off from the Missouri River on the west, Leffler and other prominent Democrats broke with the party leaders and joined the Whigs in opposing its adoption. Owing in no small measure to the opposition of this group, statehood on the terms offered by Congress was rejected by the voters.
Leffler also served as a member of the convention of 1846, in which a constitution was framed with the boundaries of Iowa set forth as they are today. This constitution was approved by the people of Iowa and adopted by Congress. In the first state election, Leffler was chosen one of the first two Congressmen from Iowa. He was in Washington on December 28, 1846, the day that the new state was admitted; and on the following day he took his oath of office. He represented Iowa in the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first congresses, but was defeated for reëlection in 1850 by Bernhart Henn.
Upon his retirement from office, Leffler engaged in agricultural pursuits near Burlington, in real-estate operations, and in the practice of law. In 1856 he made another unsuccessful campaign for Congress. Thereafter he withdrew as far as possible from the turmoil of political strife and practically abandoned his law practice, indulging his taste for the more quiet life of the farm. In 1875 he was persuaded to make the race for governor against Samuel J. Kirkwood, who had served as chief executive of Iowa during the Civil War. Leffler made a remarkable campaign but was unable to overcome the Republican majority in the state. The remaining four years of his life he spent as a country squire, undisturbed by the trend of politics. He was a good neighbor and a man of great popularity in his community. Of impressive appearance and winning manners, he made many friends. He died in his sixty-ninth year and was buried in Aspen Grove Cemetery, Burlington.
Achievements
Connections
In 1840 Leffler had married Elizabeth Parrott, and their domestic life was very happy.