"I propose to show this matter was understood before 1874. Turn to the debates in the Congressional Globe, volume 75, and in 1869 in this House, and within these walls. General Benjamin F. Butler made this speech in reply to an inquiry made by the gentleman from New York, the Chairman of this Census Committee. He says:
"Everybody in Massachusetts can vote irrespective of color who can read and write. The qualification is equal in its justice, and an ignorant white man cannot vote there and a learned negro be excluded; but in the Georgia Legislature there was a white man who could hardly read and write, if at all, voted in because he was white, while a negro who spoke and read two languages was voted out, solely because he was black. It is well that Massachusetts requires her citizens should read and write before being permitted to vote. Almost everybody votes there under that rule, certainly every native-born person of proper age and sex votes there, and there are hundreds and thousands in this country who would thank God continually on their bended knees if it could be provided that voters in the city of New York should be required to read and write. They would then believe Republican government in form and fact far more safe than now."
After exposing the assertions of General Butler, Mr. Robinson concluded as follows:
"For twenty-three years it has been written before the people of that State that to entitle them to vote and hold office they shall first learn to read and write. Near to every mans dwelling stands a public free school. Education is brought to the door of every man. These school-houses are supported with almost unbounded munificence. Children have been born in that time and have attended school at the public expense, and the general education of the people has been advanced.
* * * I will not take any time in talking about the policy of the law. There are some and many people in the State who do not think it wise to require the prepayment of a poll tax. People differ about that. Some time or other that may be changed; but for sixty years it has been the law, and it so remains. Looking into the Constitution and the laws of the sister States of Virginia and Georgia and Delaware and Pennsylvania we find similar provisions of the same antiquity justified by the communities that have adopted such legislation. And we say to all the States we leave to you those questions of policy, and we commend them to your judgment and careful consideration. Does any one claim that representation should be reduced because of insanity or idiocy, or because of convicts? Does any one claim that all laws requiring residence and registration should be done away? And yet they are on the same line, on the same principle. There is not one of these prerequsites, on which I have commented, that it is not in the power of the person who desires to get suffrage to overcome and control and conquer so that he may become a voter. But if he be a black man he cannot put off his color. He cannot, if he were born a member of a particular race, strip himself of that quality; nor can he, if he has been in servitude; nor can he, if he has been in rebellion, take out that taint; nor can he, if he has been convicted of other crimes, remove his record of criminality. These are an inherent, inseparable, indissoluble part of that man. But his education, his registration, his residence, his payment of a portion of the burdens of the State, and the other matters, are in his power and his control. I find it to be in accord with the wisdom of the people of the country that it is the true policy to let the States govern those matters for themselves. The Constitution of the United States touches those things that are out of the mans control."
In the filibustering contest over the rules in the Forty-seventh Congress, first session, Mr. Robinson made a very earnest speech, which commended itself to all except the extreme filibusters. Stripping the contest of its technical parliamentary points, Mr. Robinson said: "Our rules are for orderly procedure, not for disorderly obstruction; not for resistance." Continuing he said that no tyranny is one-half as odious as that which comes from the minority. "Our fathers," he said, "put our Government upon the right of the majority to rule." To the charge of one of the minority that the purpose of the majority to proceed to the consideration of the election cases was tyranny, Mr. Robinson said:
"Tyranny! Because the majority of this House proposes to go forward to action in a way that, upon their oaths, they declare to be right and proper, and in their judgment is to be vindicated, you say that is tyranny! But it is not tyranny for you in a minority forsooth to say, unless it goes just the way we want it, it shall not go at all. That is to say, in the language that you have thrown out here and have fulminated in the caucus, you will sit here till the expiration of this Congress rather than you shall not have your way. I commend to my friend some other dictionary in which he will find a proper definition of the word tyranny."
To show to what logical result the theory of the right of the minority to prevent legislation or the consideration of public business would lead, the following illustration was used: "But this very day suppose by some great calamity the chair of the Speaker was left vacant and we were confronted with the necessity of electing a Speaker. Elect him under the rules, you say. Yes, but under the Constitution, greater than the rule. But, say one-fifth of this House, you shall not proceed to elect a Speaker unless you will take a man from our number; and we will move to adjourn, to adjourn over, and to take a recess. You shall never organize this House so long as we can call the yeas and nays. Do you believe that we are in that pitiable plight?"
On the subject of civil service Mr. Robinson improved one minute to express his views in this manner:
"I am heartily in favor of this bill. It is in the right direction. We have read enough in the platforms of both political parties; here is a chance to do something.
"In some of the States of this country have just been inaugurated officers of the Democratic party; and I have noticed they have made haste, no matter what their declarations have been in recent platforms, to turn out well tried public servants and put in some of their own retainers and supporters. I want this Congress here and now to express itself in this bill, so that it may be in accord with the sentiment of this country.
"I hear some gentlemen say, Oh, yes, we are for reform, but this does not reform enough, I am somewhat alarmed when I find a man who says he wants to reform but cannot begin at all unless he can reform all over in one minute. If there is not enough in this bill, still let us take it gladly, give it a cordial welcome and support, and we will pass some other bill some day which will go as far as our most progressive friends want."
The position of Mr. Robinson on the tariff and River and Harbor bills needs no explanation to Massachusetts readers. He opposed the River and Harbor bill and voted to sustain the Presidents veto.
The political campaign of 1883, which resulted in Mr. Robinsons election as Governor, was an interesting and somewhat exciting one. His Democratic competitor for the office was General Benjamin F. Butler, who was then Governor, and who took the stump in his peculiarly aggressive way, arraigning bitterly the Republican administrations which had preceded his own and appealing to his own record in the office as an argument for his re-election. His elevation to the Governorship the year before had been the result of some demoralization in the Republican party, and was the possible cause of more, unless a candidate could be found able to harmonize and draw together again the inharmonious elements. That Mr. Robinson was such a man was indicated very clearly in the fact that the nomination sought him, in reality against his wish, and was accepted in a spirit of duty. Accepting the leadership of his party in the State Mr. Robinson at once applied himself to the further duty of making his candidacy a successful one, and to that end placed himself in the view of the people all over the Commonwealth in a series of addresses that were probably never surpassed for excellence in any previous political campaign. He is an interesting and impressive speaker, an honest man in the handling of facts, logical in his arguments, choice in his language, which is rich in Anglo-Saxon phrases, and with the admirable tone of his utterances combines a clear and ready wit that, never obtruding itself, is never missing when the place for it exists. He made himself thoroughly acquainted with questions at issue, and with questions in general connected with the interests of the Commonwealth. His addresses commanded attention and commended themselves to the common sense of the people, and the result was inevitable. He entered upon the administration of affairs with his customary vigor, and during his first year in office won the respect of men of all shades of political opinion by the ability and impartiality with which his duties were performed. While neglecting none of the details of official business Governor Robinson found time to attend to those social requirements that have long been imposed upon the Chief Magistrate, dignifying by his presence and enlivening by his timely remarks all kinds of gatherings, the aim of which has been to broaden social relations, or to advance the welfare of the community in any way. In the election of November, 1884, he was again the Republican candidate for Governor, and was re-elected. In his personal appearance Governor Robinson is what might be termed a clean-cut man. He is of good stature, compactly built, with a well-shaped head and a face in which are seen both intelligence and determination. His temperament is very even, and though he does not appear to be a man who could be easily excited, he is one who can be very earnest. His manners are pleasant, and in meeting him a stranger would be apt from the first to accord him, on the strength of what he appears to be, full respect and confidence.
OLIVER AMES
By JAMES W. CLARKE, A.M[Editor of the Boston Traveller]The descendants of William Ames, the Puritan, who settled in Braintree, are a representative New England family. Their history forms an honorable part of the history of Massachusetts, and fitly illustrates in its outlines the social and material advancement of the people from the poverty and hardships of the early Colonial days to the wealth and culture of the present. In the early days of the Colony they were poor, as were their neighbors of other names, but they honored toil and believed in the dignity of honest labor. Industry was with them coupled with thrift. They recognized their duty to the State and gave it such service as she demanded, whether it were honest judgment in the jury box, the town meeting and the General Court, or bearing arms against the Indian marauder, and the foreign foe. State and Church were virtually one in these primitive times, and such services as were delegated to individuals by church, by school districts, or by the town, were accepted by the members of this family as duties to be unostentatiously performed, rather than as bringing with their performance either honor or emolument. With their thrift they coupled temperance. They labored subduing the forests, on the clearing and at the forge. Artisans, as well as agriculturists, were needed; and they became skilled artisans. Muskets were as indispensable to these pioneers as hoes or spades; and so they made guns, then farming tools. They made shovels first for their neighbors, then for their township, then for their State and country. As their state advanced they kept pace with it. They found an outlet for the products of their skill at a neighboring seaport, and through this and other outlets secured markets in distant countries. Industries and enterprises which would in time develop other industries and enterprises became the special objects of their encouragement. Where avenues of prosperity and success were lacking, they must be created; and in recognition of this necessity this family took the lead in making the seemingly inaccessible, accessible, and the far, near, by building a railway across the Continent. In this barest and most meagre outline of the history of a single family may be found in miniature an outline of the history of the development of Massachusetts, of New England.
In the early part of the seventeenth century the Ames family became prominently identified with the Puritan movement in England. William Ames, the divine and author, was among those who for consciences sake forsook his home, finding refuge in Holland. He became known to fame not only as an able writer, but as Professor in the Franeker University. Richard Ames was a gentleman of Bruton, Somersetshire, England. Neither of these cast in their fortunes with the first Puritan settlers of Massachusetts; but it is doubtful if the sufferings for consciences sake of those who remained behind were after all less rigorous than were the sufferings of those who, self-exiled, sought homes in New England. The two branches of the family were united by marriage and from them descended the Honorable Oliver Ames, Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The Ames family commence their genealogical tree with the first New England ancestor, William Ames, son of Richard Ames of Bruton, Somersetshire, who came to this country in 1635, and settled in Braintree in 1638. A few years later he was joined by his brother, John Ames, who settled in Bridgewater.
John Ames, only son of William Ames, was born in Braintree in 1651; married Sarah Willis, daughter of John Willis; and in 1672 settled in Bridgewater with his uncle, John Ames, who was childless, and whose heir he became in 1697. He had five sons, one of whom was Nathaniel, the grandfather of Fisher Ames. His estate was settled in 1723.
Thomas Ames, fourth, son of John and Sarah (Willis) Ames, was born in Bridgewater in 1682: married in 1706 Mary Hayward, daughter of Joseph Hay ward.
Thomas Ames, eldest son of Thomas and Mary (Hayward) Ames, was born in Bridgewater in 1707; married in 1731 Keziah Howard, daughter of Jonathan Howard; and died in 1774.
Captain John Ames, second son of Thomas and Keziah (Howard) Ames, was born in Bridgewater in 1738: married in 1759 Susannah Howard, daughter of Ephraim Howard. He was a commissioned officer during the war of the Revolution. A blacksmith by trade he also rendered the patriot cause service by the manufacture of guns. His account book, still in existence, also proves that he was engaged in the manufacture of shovels in 1775.
Oliver Ames, third son of Captain John and Susannah (Howard) Ames, was born in West Bridgewater April 11, 1779. For a number of years he was employed at Springfield in the manufacture of guns by his brother, David Ames, who was the first superintendent of the armory, appointed by President Washington; and as early as 1800 was engaged in the manufacture of shovels. In 1803 he married Susannah Angier, a descendant of President Urian Oakes of Harvard College, and the same year he removed to Easton where greater facilities were afforded for carrying on his business. At first his goods found an outlet to markets at Newport, Rhode Island, and at Boston; and a one-horse vehicle was sufficient for the transportation of the raw material to, and the manufactured goods from, his factory. He was a man who combined in himself rare executive ability and mechanical skill, and gradually built up a large and flourishing business. A great impetus was given to manufacturing during the last war with Great Britain, and Mr. Ames availed himself of every opportunity to enlarge his business. The one-horse method of transportation was soon supplanted by six-horse teams; and when, on his retirement from active business in 1844, the firm of Oliver Ames and Sons was formed, the business had grown to large dimensions.
Honorable Oakes Ames, eldest son of Oliver and Susannah (Angier) Ames, was born in Easton, January 10, 1804; married November 29, 1827, Eveline Orville Gilmore; and entered heartily into the enterprises inaugurated by his father. Under his supervision the manufacture of shovels grew into giant proportions. A railroad, constructed to the very doors of the factories, furnished facilities for transporting to them yearly fifteen hundred tons of iron, two thousand tons of steel and five thousand tons of coal, and for carrying away from them more than one hundred and thirty thousand dozen shovels, in the manufacture of which employment had been given to five hundred workmen. The fame of the goods kept pace with the advance of civilization; and on every frontier, in all quarters of the globe, were found as instruments of progress the Ames shovels.
It is not so much as the successful manufacturer, however, that Oakes Ames will be remembered, as the master mind through whose perseverance and indomitable energy, and in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, was forced to completion the pioneer railway across the Western Continent. He gained a deserved and enduring fame as the builder of the Union Pacific Railroad, and that magnificent work will ever stand as his proudest monument. During the former part of the war of the Rebellion he rendered important service to the Union cause by his shrewd and sagacious counsels in State affairs, and a little later for ten years represented the Second Massachusetts District in the National House of Representatives. He died May 8, 1873.
Honorable Oliver Ames, second son of Oakes and Eveline O. (Gilmore) Ames, was born in North Easton, February 4, 1831. [See genealogical foot note]. He received his early education in the public schools of his native town and at the North Attleboro, Leicester, and Easton Academies. Having thus laid the foundation of a liberal education, he entered the shovel works of his father, where he served an apprenticeship of five years, thus mastering the business in all the minuteness of its details. At the age of twenty, appreciating the value of a more thorough scholastic training, he took a special course at Brown University, placing himself under the special tutelage of President Francis Wayland. The bent of his mind in this, his early manhood, is perhaps best seen from his favorite branches of study, which were history, geology, and political economy. Having finished his collegiate studies, he returned to North Easton where he soon demonstrated that he was possessed of the same splendid business qualities by which his father and grandfather had fought their way to success. His natural love of mechanical employments, which is a marked family trait, soon displayed itself in several inventions; and his inventive genius, coupled with his perfect knowledge of the business, has brought about important changes and improvements in the business of the firm. During this time he served honorably in the State militia, rising from the rank of Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. In 1863 he was admitted a member of the firm of Oliver Ames and Sons, and for several years personally superintended the various departments of the firms immense establishment at North Easton. At his fathers death in 1873 the numerous financial trusts held by the latter devolved on him, and he has been, and is, President, Director, or Trustee of a large number of institutions and corporations, including railroads, national banks, savings banks, and manufacturing corporations. In 1880 Mr. Ames was elected to the State Senate, and was re-elected in 1881. With the exception of having served on the School Committee of Easton this was the first office to which he had been called by the suffrages of his fellow-citizens. He had, however, taken a deep and active interest in political matters, and had rendered efficient political service by his connection with the Republican Town Committee of Easton, as Chairman and Treasurer, since the formation of the Republican party. As a member of the State Senate he was diligent and painstaking in attendance upon his Legislative duties, and was known as one of the working members of the body. He served during each year of his membership on the Committees on Railroads, and Education. In 1882 he received the Republican nomination for Lieutenant-Governor upon the ticket headed by the name of Honorable Robert R. Bishop as the candidate for Governor. In that tidal-wave year Mr. Bishop was defeated by General Butler, but Mr. Ames was elected by a handsome plurality; and it is not too much to say that by his courteous official demeanor towards his Excellency, Governor Butler, during the somewhat phenomenal political year of 1883, coupled with his firmness and good judgment in opposing the more objectionable schemes of that official, he contributed much to the restoration of the Republican party to power at the ensuing State election. He was re-elected in 1883, and again in 1884, and has now entered upon his third term of service. His political, like his business life, has been characterized by a straightforward honesty of purpose, by the strictest integrity, and by an energetic, able, and faithful performance of trusts accepted. Mr. Ames is the possesor of large wealth, but he has most conclusively proven that such possession is in no sense a bar to a faithful and efficient service of his fellow citizens in positions of trust and honor. His rare executive ability has been of good service to the Commonwealth, in whose affairs he has exercised the same good judgment and marked executive ability, as in his own.