Representative Jeremiah Cosden

Jeremiah Cosden (1768 – December 5, 1824) was an American politician from Maryland who briefly served in the United States House of Representatives in the early nineteenth century. Little is documented about his early life, including his exact place of birth, family background, or early occupations, but surviving records place him within the political and civic life of Maryland during the period when the state and the nation were consolidating the institutions of the early republic.

The details of Cosden’s formal education and professional training are not recorded in contemporary biographical sources, and his public prominence arises chiefly from his role in one of the most closely contested congressional elections in Maryland history. By the late 1810s and early 1820s he was aligned with the Democratic-Republican Party, the dominant political organization of the era, and was sufficiently established in his community and party to be nominated for a seat in the United States House of Representatives.

Cosden was elected as a Democratic-Republican to represent Maryland’s 6th Congressional District in the Seventeenth Congress. The general election for that seat resulted in an extraordinarily close contest between Cosden and Philip Reed, a fellow Democratic-Republican and a former United States senator and War of 1812 officer. The race was originally declared a tie. Acting in what they believed to be accordance with Maryland law, the Governor and Council of Maryland resolved the deadlock by drawing lots to determine which of the tied candidates would be certified. The lot fell to Cosden, and he was accordingly issued credentials as Member-elect.

On the strength of this certification, Cosden presented his credentials and took his seat in the Seventeenth Congress, serving from March 4, 1821. His tenure, however, was short-lived. Reed contested the election, challenging both the authority of the Governor and Council to decide the outcome by lot and the handling of specific ballots. After reviewing the case, the House of Representatives determined that the Governor and Council of Maryland were not empowered to choose a winner in such a manner. The House further concluded that two votes for Reed that had been excluded from the original count ought to have been included, and that one vote counted for him was illegal and should not have been tallied. On the basis of these findings, the House declared Reed the rightful winner. As a result, Cosden, who had been seated for 15 days, was removed on March 19, 1822, and Philip Reed was seated for the remainder of the term. This episode is remembered as the closest U.S. House race in Maryland history and stands as an early example of the House exercising its constitutional authority to judge the elections and returns of its members.

Following his unseating, there is no substantial record of Cosden’s further public career, and he does not appear to have held additional federal office. He remained in Maryland, where he lived out the remainder of his life during a period marked by the continued evolution of party politics and the transition from the Era of Good Feelings to the more sharply defined partisan alignments of the Jacksonian era.

Jeremiah Cosden died in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 5, 1824. Although his time in Congress was brief, his contested election and removal from the House illustrate the procedural and legal complexities of early nineteenth-century American elections and the developing role of Congress in adjudicating disputed returns.