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AMES, OAKES (1804–1873)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 850 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AMES, OAKES (1804–1873) , See also:American manufacturer, capitalist and politician, was See also:born in See also:Easton, See also:Massachusetts, on the loth of See also:January 1804. As a manufacturer of shovels, in association with his See also:father.and his See also:brother See also:Oliver (1807–1877), he amassed a large See also:fortune. In 186o he became a member of the executive See also:council of Massachusetts, and from 1863 to 1873 was a republican member of the See also:national See also:House of Representatives. As a member of the See also:committee on railroads he became interested in the project, greatly aided by the See also:government, to build a trans-See also:continental railway, connecting the eastern states with See also:California. Others having failed, he was induced in 1865 to assume the direction of the See also:work, and to him more than to any other one See also:man the See also:credit for the construction of the See also:Union Pacific railway was due. The See also:execution was effected largely through a construction See also:company, the Credit Mobilier Company of See also:America. In disposing of some of the stock of this company, Ames in 1867–1871 sold a number of shares to members of See also:Congress at a See also:price much below what these shares eventually proved to be See also:worth. This, on becoming known, gave rise in 1872–1893 to a See also:great congressional See also:scandal. After an investigation by a committee of the House, which recommended the See also:expulsion of Ames, a See also:resolution was passed on the 28th of See also:February 1873, " that the House absolutely condemns the See also:con-duct of Oakes Ames . . . in seeking to secure congressional See also:attention to the affairs of a See also:corporation in which he was interested, and whose See also:interest directly depended upon the legislation of Congress, by inducing members of Congress to invest in the See also:stocks of said corporation." Many have since attributed this resolution to partisanship, and the See also:influence of popular clamour, and in 1883 the legislature of Massachusetts passed a resolution vindicating Ames. He died at See also:North Easton, See also:Mass., on the 8th of May 1893. His son, OLIVER AMES (1831–1895), was See also:lieutenant-See also:governor of Massachusetts from 1883 until 1887, and governor from 1887 to 189o.

See CREDIT MOBILIER OF AMERICA and the references there given. For a See also:

defence of Oakes Ames, see Oakes Ames, A Memorial See also:Volume (See also:Cambridge, Mass., 1884).

End of Article: AMES, OAKES (1804–1873)

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