James Falconer Wilson
Encyclopedia
James Falconer "Jefferson Jim" Wilson (October 19, 1828 April 22, 1895) was a lawyer, Republican
U.S. Congressman from Iowa's 1st congressional district
during the American Civil War
, and a two-term U.S. Senator
from Iowa. He was a pioneer in the advancement of federal protection for civil rights
.
In the last half of the nineteenth century, two unrelated Iowans named James Wilson achieved high office, necessitating an early form of disambiguation. Representative and Senator James F. Wilson (of Jefferson County, Iowa
) became known as "Jefferson Jim" Wilson, while Representative and Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson
(of Tama County, Iowa
) became known as "Tama Jim" Wilson.
. After his father died when James was eleven, James needed to work from an early age, and attended school when work permitted. After serving as a harnessmaker's apprentice, he studied law in Newark alongside future U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Burnham Woods
. He was admitted to the bar in 1851 and practiced in Newark from until 1853.
In 1853, he moved to Fairfield, Iowa
, where he resumed the practice of law.
Wilson played an important role in the formation of the Iowa Republican Party, and antebellum Iowa government. In 1857, he was a delegate to Iowa's constitutional convention
, and served as a Republican in the Iowa House of Representatives
that year and in 1859. Elected next to the Iowa Senate
, he served in that house until 1861, when he was its president.
. Curtis won the nomination, then the general election. After the outbreak of the Civil War, however, Curtis resigned to accept appointment as an officer of the Union Army
. At the convention called to choose the Republican nominee to succeed Curtis, "it was a foregone conclusion that James F. Wilson would be the unanimous choice." In October 1861 Wilson was elected to fill the vacancy, easily defeating Democrat Jairus E. Neal.
After completing Curtis's term in the Thirty-seventh Congress, he was re-elected three times, serving in the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses. He was chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary during the tumultuous periods during the War and Reconstruction.
Wilson was aligned with the faction of his Party known at the time as the "Radical Republicans." He supported civil rights moves and objected to President Andrew Johnson
's attempts to veto the Civil Rights Act of 1866
and the Reconstruction Act
s. Despite his initial misgivings, he ultimately voted to impeach President Johnson and was a member of the prosecution in his impeachment trials
in 1868. He reported the first bill in Congress to provide voting rights to black citizens of the District of Columbia. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1868, explaining prior to the district convention that with the election of an acceptable Republican president guaranteed and a change in administration inevitable, a change in representation of the First District was also timely. In all, Wilson served in the House from October 8, 1861, to March 3, 1869.
President Ulysses S. Grant
offered Wilson the post of Secretary of State
, but Wilson declined it, serving instead as government director of the Pacific Railroad
for eight years.
elected Wilson to the U.S. Senate
. His first initiative as a U.S. Senator was to propose an unsuccessful constitutional amendment to more explicitly authorize the federal government to adopt laws that protect civil rights from violations by private citizens, to nullify the Supreme Court's ruling two months earlier in the Civil Rights Cases
, 109 U.S. 3 (1883). The General Assembly re-elected him in 1888 to a second six-year term. In the Senate, Wilson served as chairman of the Committee of Mines and Mining (in the Forty-eighth Congress) Committee on Expenditures of Public Money (in the Forty-eighth Congress), Committee on Revision of the Laws of the United States (in the Forty-ninth through Fifty-second Congresses), and the Committee on Education and Labor (in the Fifty-second Congress).
In 1890, Wilson was one of three Senators mentioned as potential nominees to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Samuel F. Miller of Iowa. President Benjamin Harrison
instead picked Michigan judge Henry Billings Brown
, who would later write the Supreme Court's opinion upholding "separate but equal" racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson
,163 U.S. 537 (1896).
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
U.S. Congressman from Iowa's 1st congressional district
Iowa's 1st congressional district
Iowa's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa that covers the northeastern part of the state. The district includes Dubuque, Clinton, Davenport and Waterloo....
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and a two-term U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Iowa. He was a pioneer in the advancement of federal protection for civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
.
In the last half of the nineteenth century, two unrelated Iowans named James Wilson achieved high office, necessitating an early form of disambiguation. Representative and Senator James F. Wilson (of Jefferson County, Iowa
Jefferson County, Iowa
-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 16,843 in the county, with a population density of . There were 7,594 housing units, of which 6,846 were occupied.-2000 census:...
) became known as "Jefferson Jim" Wilson, while Representative and Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson
James Wilson (U.S. politician)
James "Tama Jim" Wilson was a Scotland-born United States politician who served as United States Secretary of Agriculture for sixteen years during three presidencies, from 1897 to 1913. He holds the record as the longest-serving United States Cabinet member.-Personal background:Wilson was born in...
(of Tama County, Iowa
Tama County, Iowa
-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 17,767 in the county, with a population density of . There were 7,766 housing units, of which 6,947 were occupied.-2000 census:...
) became known as "Tama Jim" Wilson.
Personal background
Wilson was born in Newark, OhioNewark, Ohio
In addition, the remains of a road leading south from the Octagon have been documented and explored. It was first surveyed in the 19th century, when its walls were more apparent. Called the Great Hopewell Road, it may extend to the Hopewell complex at Chillicothe, Ohio...
. After his father died when James was eleven, James needed to work from an early age, and attended school when work permitted. After serving as a harnessmaker's apprentice, he studied law in Newark alongside future U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Burnham Woods
William Burnham Woods
William Burnham Woods was an American jurist, politician, and soldier.-Early life and career:Woods was born on August 3, 1824 in Newark, Ohio. He was the older brother of Charles R. Woods, another future Civil War general. He attended college at both Western Reserve University and Yale...
. He was admitted to the bar in 1851 and practiced in Newark from until 1853.
In 1853, he moved to Fairfield, Iowa
Fairfield, Iowa
Fairfield is a city and the county seat of Jefferson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 9,464 in the 2010 census, a decline from 9,509 in the 2000 census. - History :...
, where he resumed the practice of law.
Wilson played an important role in the formation of the Iowa Republican Party, and antebellum Iowa government. In 1857, he was a delegate to Iowa's constitutional convention
Constitutional convention (political meeting)
A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...
, and served as a Republican in the Iowa House of Representatives
Iowa House of Representatives
The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 100 members of the House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 29,750 for each constituency...
that year and in 1859. Elected next to the Iowa Senate
Iowa Senate
The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 50 members of the Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 59,500 per constituency. Each Senate district is composed of two House districts...
, he served in that house until 1861, when he was its president.
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1860, Wilson and three others, including incumbent Samuel R. Curtis, vied for the Republican nomination to represent Iowa's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House of RepresentativesUnited States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. Curtis won the nomination, then the general election. After the outbreak of the Civil War, however, Curtis resigned to accept appointment as an officer of the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
. At the convention called to choose the Republican nominee to succeed Curtis, "it was a foregone conclusion that James F. Wilson would be the unanimous choice." In October 1861 Wilson was elected to fill the vacancy, easily defeating Democrat Jairus E. Neal.
After completing Curtis's term in the Thirty-seventh Congress, he was re-elected three times, serving in the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses. He was chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary during the tumultuous periods during the War and Reconstruction.
Wilson was aligned with the faction of his Party known at the time as the "Radical Republicans." He supported civil rights moves and objected to President Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
's attempts to veto the Civil Rights Act of 1866
Civil Rights Act of 1866
The Civil Rights Act of 1866, , enacted April 9, 1866, is a federal law in the United States that was mainly intended to protect the civil rights of African-Americans, in the wake of the American Civil War...
and the Reconstruction Act
Reconstruction Act
After the end of the Civil War, as part of the on-going process of Reconstruction, the United States Congress passed four statutes known as Reconstruction Acts...
s. Despite his initial misgivings, he ultimately voted to impeach President Johnson and was a member of the prosecution in his impeachment trials
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, was one of the most dramatic events in the political life of the United States during Reconstruction, and the first impeachment in history of a sitting United States president....
in 1868. He reported the first bill in Congress to provide voting rights to black citizens of the District of Columbia. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1868, explaining prior to the district convention that with the election of an acceptable Republican president guaranteed and a change in administration inevitable, a change in representation of the First District was also timely. In all, Wilson served in the House from October 8, 1861, to March 3, 1869.
President Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
offered Wilson the post of Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
, but Wilson declined it, serving instead as government director of the Pacific Railroad
Pacific Railroad
The Pacific Railroad was a railroad based in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was a predecessor of both the Missouri Pacific Railroad and St. Louis-San Francisco Railway.The Pacific was chartered by Missouri in 1849 to extend "from St...
for eight years.
U.S. Senate
In 1882, the Iowa General AssemblyIowa General Assembly
The Iowa General Assembly is the legislative branch of the state government of Iowa. Like the federal United States Congress, the General Assembly is a bicameral body, composed of the upper house Iowa Senate and the lower Iowa House of Representatives respectively...
elected Wilson to the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. His first initiative as a U.S. Senator was to propose an unsuccessful constitutional amendment to more explicitly authorize the federal government to adopt laws that protect civil rights from violations by private citizens, to nullify the Supreme Court's ruling two months earlier in the Civil Rights Cases
Civil Rights Cases
The Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3 , were a group of five similar cases consolidated into one issue for the United States Supreme Court to review...
, 109 U.S. 3 (1883). The General Assembly re-elected him in 1888 to a second six-year term. In the Senate, Wilson served as chairman of the Committee of Mines and Mining (in the Forty-eighth Congress) Committee on Expenditures of Public Money (in the Forty-eighth Congress), Committee on Revision of the Laws of the United States (in the Forty-ninth through Fifty-second Congresses), and the Committee on Education and Labor (in the Fifty-second Congress).
In 1890, Wilson was one of three Senators mentioned as potential nominees to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Samuel F. Miller of Iowa. President Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...
instead picked Michigan judge Henry Billings Brown
Henry Billings Brown
Henry Billings Brown was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from January 5, 1891, to May 28, 1906. He was the author of the opinion for the Court in Plessy v...
, who would later write the Supreme Court's opinion upholding "separate but equal" racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in private businesses , under the doctrine of "separate but equal".The decision was handed...
,163 U.S. 537 (1896).
Death
Wilson died in Fairfield shortly after his second Senate term ended. In its obituary, the New York Times attributed his death to "paralysis of the brain", and stated that his death had been expected. He was interred in Fairfield-Evergreen Cemetery.External links
- James F. Wilson at Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...