Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States
James graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1818 after four years of study.
Sadler Center, 200 Stadium Dr, Williamsburg, VA 23185, United States
James studied law at the College of William and Mary.
Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States
James graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1818 after four years of study.
Sadler Center, 200 Stadium Dr, Williamsburg, VA 23185, United States
James studied law at the College of William and Mary.
https://www.amazon.com/Correspondence-Commissioner-So-Styled-Confederate-America/dp/1333942281?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1333942281
1863
https://www.amazon.com/Reports-Select-Committee-Senate-appointed/dp/1275773184?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1275773184
James Murray Mason was born on November 3, 1798, in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. A grandson of George Mason of Revolutionary fame, and the son of General John Mason and Anna Maria Murray, he had five brothers and four sisters all of whom lived to maturity.
James's early education was obtained in the schools of Georgetown and the neighborhood, and he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1818 after four years of study. He then studied law at the College of William and Mary.
James Murray Mason represented Frederick County in the state legislature from 1826 to 1831. In 1829, as a delegate to the Virginia constitutional convention, he proved himself once again unorthodox, from the point of view of the Tidewater, by favoring the white basis of representation, as advocated by the backcountry. It was good politics for him to champion the interests of his constituents, but there is evidence that he followed convictions of long-standing.
In 1832 he was an elector on the Jackson-Van Buren ticket, a fact which is rather interesting in view of his later friendship with Calhoun. In 1837 he was elected to Congress and represented his district one term. In 1847 he was sent to the United States Senate to fill the unexpired term of Senator Pennybacker. Reelected in 1849 and 1855, he was in the Senate when Virginia seceded. At Washington, Mason was intimately associated with the most prominent Southern-Rights Democrats. Calhoun and R. M. T. Hunter were for years his messmates during the session of Congress and he fell especially under Calhoun's influence. It is not surprising, therefore, that he drafted the famous fugitive-slave law of 1850 and that it was he who read the speech of John C. Calhoun to the Senate on the proposed compromise measures.
He was President pro tempore of the Senate during the 34th and 35th Congresses but when Abraham Lincoln was elected president, Mason became convinced that the only way the South could preserve its identity was by establishing its sovereignty. He was expelled from the Senate in 1861 for support of the Confederacy.
With his clear stand upon Southern rights, his restrained and conciliatory demeanor, his high social connections, his ten years as chairman of the Senate's foreign relations committee, and his friendship with Davis, Mason was well qualified to go to England as Confederate diplomatic commissioner and a colleague of John Slidell who was dispatched to France in the same capacity. The seizure of Mason and Slidell while onboard the Trent by Captain Wilkes of the United States navy nearly caused a war between Great Britain and the United States and helped create an atmosphere favorable to the Confederacy. The prisoners were held at Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, until January 1, 1862. Upon arriving in England Mason was received as one born of the manor.
In April 1866 Mason repaired to Canada where he remained nearly three years because of his fear of being arrested by the federal government as an important Confederate official. After Johnson's second proclamation of amnesty in 1868, he returned to Virginia, though not to his old home, "Selma," for that had been burned by Sheridan during the war.
James Murray Mason is best known for his authorship of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law and his Confederate mission to England. He possessed impressive qualifications: a clear position on the issue of Southern rights, a conciliatory demeanor, high social connections, and 10 years as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He cultivated friendships with powerful political and economic figures, acted as a central purchasing agent for the Confederacy, cooperated with propagandists, and promoted the sale of Confederate bonds. Yet his primary mission, to persuade the British to recognize and aid the Confederacy, was singularly unsuccessful.
James Murray Mason was a member of the Democratic Party. Mason associated with the most prominent Southern Rights Democrats, especially John C. Calhoun. He drafted the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, providing for the return to their owners of slaves who had escaped to freedom in the North. He read Calhoun's speech to the Senate on the proposed compromise measures.
When Lincoln was elected, Mason, unlike many border state leaders, believed that compromise was not possible and that the South must withdraw from the Union or be submerged and exploited by the North. To him, as to Calhoun, the "irrepressible conflict" was between two social and economic systems, or civilizations, one of which was agrarian and the other industrial. Slavery while strongly upheld by Mason was only one of the elements of the Southern system.
Mason had great personal charm, despite his critics' charge that he was untidy and chewed tobacco and spat on the floor of Parliament.
On July 25, 1822, James was married to Elizabeth Margaretta Chew, daughter of Benjamin Chew, Mason's devoted friend and counselor during his college days in Philadelphia and until Chew's death.
Just on the outskirts of the town of Winchester Mason and his wife bought a modest home which they called "Selma." Here their eight children were reared. Devoted to his family, Mason was destined to spend a great part of his life away from them.
1766-1849
1776-1857
1798-1874
1797-1859
1800-1890
1802-1838
1808-1875
1811-1898
1825-1863
1833-1920
1836-1885
1839-1923
1826-1847
1828-1893
1841-1925
1830-1895
