AMES, OAKES (18041873)

This article appears in Volume V01, Page 850 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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AMES, OAKES (18041873) , American manufacturer, capitalist and politician, was born in Easton,

Massachusetts

MASSACHUSETTS (an Indian name, originally applied to a tribe of Indians)

, on the loth of January 1804. As a manufacturer of shovels, in association with his father.and his brother Oliver (18071877), he amassed a large fortune. In 186o he became a member of the executive council of

Massachusetts

MASSACHUSETTS (an Indian name, originally applied to a tribe of Indians)

, and from 1863 to 1873 was a republican member of the national

House

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

of Representatives. As a member of the committee on railroads he became interested in the project, greatly aided by the government, to build a trans-continental railway, connecting the eastern states with California. Others having failed, he was induced in 1865 to assume the direction of the

work

WORK

, and to him more than to any other one man the credit for the construction of the Union Pacific railway was due. The execution was effected largely through a construction company, the Credit Mobilier Company of America. In disposing of some of the stock of this company, Ames in 18671871 sold a number of shares to members of Congress at a price much below what these shares eventually proved to be worth. This, on becoming known, gave rise in 18721893 to a

great

GREAT

congressional scandal. After an investigation by a committee of the

House

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

, which recommended the expulsion of Ames, a resolution was passed on the 28th of February 1873, " that the House absolutely condemns the con-duct of Oakes Ames . . . in seeking to secure congressional attention to the affairs of a

corporation

CORPORATION (from Lat. corporare, to form into a
body
- BODY
, corpus, corporis)

in which he was interested, and whose

interest

INTEREST

directly depended upon the legislation of Congress, by inducing members of Congress to invest in the stocks of said

corporation

CORPORATION (from Lat. corporare, to form into a
body
- BODY
, corpus, corporis)

." Many have since attributed this resolution to partisanship, and the influence of popular clamour, and in 1883 the legislature of Massachusetts passed a resolution vindicating
Ames. He died at North Easton, Mass., on the 8th of May 1893. His son, OLIVER AMES (18311895), was lieutenant-

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of Massachusetts from 1883 until 1887, and

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

from 1887 to 189o.
See CREDIT MOBILIER OF AMERICA and the references there given. For a defence of Oakes Ames, see Oakes Ames, A Memorial Volume (

Cambridge

, Mass., 1884).

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