author
Martin J. (Martin Joseph) Wade
1861–1931
A lawyer, congressman, and federal judge, he built a public career in Iowa that carried him from local courtrooms to the U.S. House and then to the federal bench. His life offers a glimpse of how legal and political service often overlapped in early 20th-century America.
1 Audiobook
The Short Constitution
by Martin J. (Martin Joseph) Wade, William F. (William Fletcher) Russell
About the author
Born in Burlington, Vermont, on October 20, 1861, he moved to Iowa with his family when he was young and was educated in Dubuque and at the University of Iowa's law department, graduating in 1886. He went into legal practice in Iowa City and then in Des Moines, building the foundation for a long career in law and public service.
He served as a judge of Iowa's Eighth Judicial District before representing Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1903 to 1905. Although his time in Congress was relatively brief, it formed an important chapter in a career that moved steadily between politics and the law.
In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him as a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, a post he held until his death on April 16, 1931. Remembered as a prominent Iowa jurist as well as a national public figure, he left his mark through decades of service in courts, government, and the legal profession.