James Kimbrough Jones was an American politican and statesman. He was a senator from Arkansas who served in the United States Senate from 1885-1903. He is distinguished for being a defender of American-Indians rights and for supporting the Blair educational bill (1884 - 85), which was striving for bringing better educational advantages to the African-Americans.
Background
James Kimbrough Jones was born on September 29, 1829, the son of Nathaniel Jones and his wife Caroline Jane, daughter of Reverend Edmund Jones of Madison County, Tennessee. His ancestors came from Wales to Virginia in early colonial times, and the family later moved to North Carolina. His father and mother settled in Tennessee, but James was born in Marshall County, Mississippi, while his mother was visiting there. She died when her son was six years old, and three years later his father moved to Arkansas and settled on a farm in Dallas County.
Education
The young James Jones's education was received from tutors and in private schools, which he attended irregularly because his health was frail.
Career
At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry (Confederate), but ill health made it impossible for him to give constant service, though he kept up his military connection until the end of the war. At its close, he engaged in farming, but was soon admitted to the bar and opened an office at Washington, Arkansas.
In 1873 he was elected state senator as a Democrat and went to Little Rock to sustain the cause of Elisha Baxter in the Brooks-Baxter "war. " He remained in the state Senate until 1879 and was president the last two years. In 1878 he was elected to the lower house of Congress, and in 1885 entered the United States Senate. The most noteworthy activity of his congressional career was his fight for tariff reform. In 1884, 1888, and 1890 he attracted national attention by the illuminating facts he presented and by the keen satire which he brought to bear on the tariff bills.
In 1894 he was made chairman of a subcommittee in charge of the Wilson bill. He then took the bill to Senators Hill, Murphy, Smith, Brice, Gorman, Blanchard, and Caffrey to ascertain their minimum demands in the way of higher rates. For three weeks this work went on, and then the bill was laid before the Democratic caucus which, with Senator Hill absent, voted to accept it. After three weeks of debate it passed with 634 amendments.
Before the vote was taken, President Cleveland had written to Jones, urging him, under all conditions, to get some sort of tariff bill passed. The amendments had been submitted to the President through Secretary Carlisle, and Cleveland had indicated to Jones during a personal interview that he would do almost anything to effect a compromise.
While the House was discussing these amendments, a letter was read from the President expressing his keen dissatisfaction with the bill. This message was applauded in the House, but it only stimulated Gorman and others in the Senate to more stubborn resistance. Jones felt that the President's letter was a reflection upon himself and ceased to visit the White House. Later the President invited him to call, and explained that he did not mean to include him among the senators guilty of party perfidy, but he never made the apology public. Jones received many commendations from various parts of the country and from members of both parties.
The Dingley tariff bill he fought both in the Committee on Finance and in the Senate, but without avail. He early espoused the cause of free silver and took a prominent part in the Memphis convention (1895). Partly because of this advocacy of free silver, but largely because of his prominence in the Senate, a "boom" was started outside of Arkansas for his nomination for the presidency by the Democratic party, but he discouraged the movement and supported Richard Bland at Chicago until the nomination of Bryan.
Both in this campaign and in 1900, when "imperialism" was the paramount issue, he served as chairman of the National Committee.
After retiring from Congress he practiced law in Washington until his death, though he always considered Arkansas his home. He was buried in Rock Creek Cemetery.
Achievements
Politics
In his political affiliation James Jones was a Democrat. He was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1881-March 3, 1885) and also served as Democratic caucus chairman 1899-1903.
Connections
On January 16, 1863, James Kimbrough Jones married Sue R. Eaton, who bore him two daughters; and after her death, he was married in 1866 to her cousin, Susan Somervell, who bore him three children.