Speech of Hon. James M. Ashley, of Ohio, Delivered in the House of Representatives, January 17, 1861: The Union of the States; The Majority Must ... Not One Cent for Tribute! (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Speech of Hon. James M. Ashley, of Ohio, Del...)
Excerpt from Speech of Hon. James M. Ashley, of Ohio, Delivered in the House of Representatives, January 17, 1861: The Union of the States; The Majority Must Govern; It Is Treason to Secede; Millions for Defense, Not One Cent for Tribute!
Sir, it is time the South understood her true position. She can no longer control this question. He who supposes that a threat of disunion will alarm the potent men of the North labors under a great mistake. To them disunion has no terrors.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
James Mitchell Ashley was an American politician and abolitionist.
Background
James Mitchell Ashley was born on November 14, 1824 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States to John and Mary Ann (Kirkpatrick) Ashley. Both his father and grandfather were itinerant ministers of the church founded by Alexander Campbell.
For nearly two centuries the descendants of Capt. Ashley resided in and near Norfolk.
From his ninth to his fourteenth year he frequently accompanied his father, who preached in a circuit extending through the border counties of Kentucky and western Virginia.
Here the boy glimpsed something of the system of slavery, and early came to detest it.
At the age of sixteen, rebelling against the austere regulations established by his father for the government of his household, he ran away from home and secured employment as a cabinboy and later as a clerk upon an Ohio river steamboat.
Education
Ashley had no schooling, his early education being acquired at home, chiefly under the guidance of his mother.
During his experience as an editor he studied law with Charles O. Tracy, under whom he prosecuted his studies until he was admitted to the bar (1849), shortly after which he relinquished his connection with the Democrat.
Career
Ashley wandered through a number of southern states, visiting, among other places, the Hermitage, an event which he subsequently asserted made a profound impression upon him. While in Virginia, his expressions in opposition to slavery were so violent that he was told to leave the state. Shortly after his return to Ohio, Ashley entered the printing office of the Scioto Valley Republican (1841), and subsequently was employed in various printing offices until he became editor of the Democrat in Portsmouth, Ohio (1848).
During his experience as an editor he studied law with Charles O. Tracy, under whom he prosecuted his studies until he was admitted to the bar (1849), shortly after which he relinquished his connection with the Democrat. The ensuing two years were passed in Portsmouth in the work of boat construction.
In 1851 he moved to Toledo, where he engaged for a few years in the wholesale drug business. He was by this time keenly interested in the political issues of the day. Hitherto a Democrat, his intense antagonism to slavery swept him into the Free-Soil party (1848) and shortly thereafter into the Republican party (1854). He assisted in the formation of the latter in the Toledo district, and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at which John C. Frémont was nominated for the presidency (1856). Two years later he was himself nominated as the Republican candidate for Congress from his district and was elected. To this position he was consecutively reëlected in 1860, 1862, 1864, and 1866.
Among the more important measures introduced or advocated in the House by Ashley was that of minority representation, a bill being reported by him looking to the introduction of that principle in the territorial governments--his speech in support of his bill being the first on that subject made in Congress. During the extra session of July 1861 he prepared the first measure for the reconstruction of the southern states presented to Congress, and as chairman of the Committee on Territories, reported it to the House (March 12, 1862).
The bill was tabled by a vote of 65 to 56, and the subject was not again revived at that session, but the ideas contained in the bill and the line of policy it outlined were embodied in the reconstruction measures finally adopted and carried into effect. In connection with Lot M. Morrill of Maine, Ashley drew up and had charge of the bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia (April 11, 1862). He introduced the first proposition to amend the Constitution of the United States, so as to abolish slavery (December 14, 1863), but the measure was at first defeated in the House.
On a reconsideration Ashley succeeded in converting twenty-four border and northern Democrats and secured the passage of the measure (January 31, 1865). He considered this the greatest achievement of his life. It was on the initiative of Ashley that the move for the impeachment of President Johnson was begun (January 7, 1867).
Like many others of the extreme radicals, he dropped from political life after the trial and acquittal of the President. He was defeated in the ensuing fall election and left Congress Mar. 3, 1869.
He was appointed by President Grant territorial governor of Montana, but was removed within a year on account of his sharp criticisms of the President's policies. The final act of his political career was his active participation in the Liberal Republican convention of 1872 and his support of Greeley for the presidency in the ensuing campaign. Ashley's political principles were not formed by logical mental processes, but by sentiment aroused by personal experiences.
After his political career was over, he became interested in the possibility of a railroad extending from Toledo across to the Michigan Peninsula which would furnish an outlet for about 300 miles of country. He purchased valuable terminals at Toledo entirely on credit and proceeded to build the road north to Lake Michigan, which became the Toledo, Ann Arbor & Northern Michigan Railroad. He was its president from 1877 to 1893.
Achievements
Ashley's efforts on behalf of racial equality were recognized by the Afro-American League of Tennessee, and he donated the proceeds of a book of his speeches to build schools.
(Excerpt from Speech of Hon. James M. Ashley, of Ohio, Del...)
Personality
Puritan in habit, suspicious, uncharitable of opposition and somewhat vain, he was a born radical. His personal courage, his hatred of oppression, and his love of liberty drew him into the emancipation cause, first for the black people and then, as he believed, by his warfare on Johnson, for the whole American people.
Connections
In 1851 he was married to Emma Jane Smith of Kentucky, they had four children.
