Oakes Ames (politician)

Oakes Ames

Oakes Ames (born January 10, 1804 in Easton , Bristol County , Massachusetts , †  May 8, 1873 in North Easton , Massachusetts) was an American politician . Between 1863 and 1873 he represented the state of Massachusetts in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Oakes Ames was the father of Governor Oliver Ames (1831–1895). He attended public schools in his home country and the Dighton Academy . After that he was busy making shovels and shovels. He became a member of the Republican Party ; in 1860 he was a member of the Massachusetts government council.

In the congressional election of 1862 Ames was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the second constituency of Massachusetts , where he succeeded James Buffinton on March 4, 1863 . After four re-elections, he was able to complete five legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1873 . These were shaped by the events of the civil war and its consequences. Since 1865, the work of Congress has been overshadowed by tension between the Republican Party and President Andrew Johnson , which culminated in a narrowly unsuccessful impeachment trial. Ames campaigned successfully for the transcontinental railroad company Union Pacific Railroad . His brother Oliver was president of this society. His involvement in this area led to his involvement in the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal, for which he was officially reprimanded in Congress in February 1873.

In 1872 Ames declined to run again. He died on May 8, 1873, just weeks after his term in Congress ended. The cities of Ames in Iowa and Ames in Nebraska were each named after him. His grandson, also named Oakes Ames , became a respected botanist.

literature

• Defense of Oakes Ames against the charge of selling to members of Congress, shares of the capitol stock of the Credit Mobilier of America, with the intent to bribe said members of Congress. Read in the House of Representatives February 25, 1873
• Jay Boyd Crawford: The credit mobilier of America; its origin and history, its work of constructing the Union Pacific railroad and relation of members of Congress therewith Publisher: CW Calkins & Co., Boston, 1880
• Oakes Ames. A memoir; with an account of the dedication of the Oakes Ames memorial hall at North Easton, Mass., November 17, 1881 Publisher: Printed at the Riverside press, Cambridge (1884)

Web links

• Oakes Ames in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Oakes Ames in the database of Find a Grave (English)