James Mitchell Ashley

James Mitchell Ashley
Green Clay Smith
Succeeded by	Wiley Scribner (acting)
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio
In office March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1869
Preceded by	Richard Mott
Succeeded by	Truman H. Hoag
Constituency	5th district (1859–1863) 10th district (1863–1869)
Personal details
Born	(1824-11-14)November 14, 1824 Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Died	September 16, 1896(1896-09-16) (aged 71) Ann Arbor, Michigan
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery (Toledo, Ohio)
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Emma Smith
Children	four
Signature

James Mitchell Ashley (November 14, 1824 – September 16, 1896) was an American politician and

Ashley was mostly self-taught in elementary subjects, although his father wanted him to follow family tradition and become a Baptist minister. Rather than attend a seminary, the 14 year old ran away to become a cabin boy on Ohio and Mississippi River boats, and later worked as a clerk on those boats. He had begun helping slaves to escape as early as 1839,[2] and late in his life Ashley relished telling stories of the families he had saved as a 17 year old.^[3] He told the story later in life, which came down through the family that, when he left the home at 14, the last words his father said to him as he went off was: "You're on the straight road to Hell, boy!" Twenty years later, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, his first act, when he sat down in his office in Washington, D.C., was to pen his father, to whom he had not spoken in twenty years, a letter on the Congressional stationary: "Dear Father, I have just arrived!"

He married Emma Jane Smith in 1851 and together they had four children. He is the great-grandfather of U.S. Representative

Ashley was a Freemason, belonging to the Toledo Lodge No. 144 in Toledo, Ohio.^[4]

Early political activism

In 1848, the burly six-foot tall youth settled in

Ashley served in the United States House of Representatives from 1859 through 1869, representing Ohio's 5th congressional district for two terms (1859–63) and Ohio's 10th congressional district for three terms (1863–69).

While in Congress (the 37th through 40th sessions), Ashley served as the Chairman of the Committee on Territories, and was instrumental to the creation (naming and borders) of the territories of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Washington. He also authored the Arizona Organic Act. However, he opposed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and especially polygamy, and limited Utah's boundaries to reduce Mormon influence.^[1]

During the

He also ran unsuccessfully in Ohio for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1890 and 1892.[1]

Death and legacy

Ashley suffered from

Civil rights figure Frederick Douglass regarded Ashley as a white man who had a determination to secure equal justice for all, along with the likes of Benjamin Wade, Thaddeus Stevens, and Charles Sumner. Mary C. Ames described Ashley as the most genial and kind man in the Congress.^[13]

Some historians have been unkind in their views on Ashley. C. Vann Woodward called him, "a nut with an idée fixe" and Eric McKitrick described him as having, "an occult mixture of superstition and lunacy".^[13] A contemporary journalist, Benjamin Perley Poore, said Ashley was a "man of the lightest mental calibre and most insufficient capacity" who "passed much of his time in perambulating the aisles of the House, holding short conferences with leading Republicans, and casting frequent glances into the ladies' gallery."^[14]

Ashley is played by actor David Costabile in the 2012 Steven Spielberg movie Lincoln.

Footnotes

References

• Ohio History Central. "James Ashley".
  Ohio History Central
  .
• Richards, Leonard L. (2015). Who Freed the Slaves?: The Fight over the Thirteenth Amendment. University of Chicago Press.
  ISBN 978-0226178202
  .
• Ingram, Raelin. "The Life and Times of James M. Ashley" (PDF). Cincinnati Civil War Round Table. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
• Biography.com. "James Mitchell Ashley". biography.com. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.

Further reading

• Zietlow, Rebecca E. (November 2012). "James Ashley's Thirteenth Amendment".
  JSTOR 41708162. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Pdf.
• Zietlow, Rebecca E. The Forgotten Emancipator: James Mitchell Ashley and the Ideological Origins of Reconstruction (Cambridge University Press, 2018)
• Horowitz, Robert F. (1979). Great Impeacher: A Political Biography of James M. Ashley. New York: Brooklyn College Press.
• Who's Who on the Web, s.v. "James Mitchell Ashley". Marquis Who's Who. 2005.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Mitchell Ashley.

• United States Congress. "James Mitchell Ashley (id: A000314)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• "Ashley, James Monroe" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. [sic]

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Richard Mott	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 5th congressional district 1859-1863	Succeeded by Francis Celeste Le Blond
Preceded by Carey A. Trimble	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 10th congressional district 1863–1869	Succeeded by Truman H. Hoag