Fisher Ames

Fisher Ames (/eɪmz/; April 9, 1758 – July 4, 1808) was a Representative in the United States Congress from the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts. He became conspicuous in promoting the new Constitution during his state's ratifying convention, which propelled him to election to the United States Congress for four terms concurrent with the Washington Administration. In this role, he was an important leader of the Federalist Party in the House of Representatives and soon became famous for his powerful skill as an orator. Ames was on the committee that inaugurated President Washington, he framed the final accepted wording in the First Amendment regarding freedom of religion in 1789 and fought many key legislative battles successfully for the Federalists in Congress. In his day, his greatest performance was a defense of the Jay Treaty in 1796, which secured enough votes to pass the appropriation for the treaty. Ames's Jay Treaty oration was known for decades afterward and set a standard for later statesman in debate and oratory to follow well into the 19th Century. Ames left Congress in 1797, due to declining health, and continued to be a Federalist essayist for a decade after his Congressional career. Ames died on July 4th, 1808, at the age of fifty; making him the first of three Founding Fathers who died on July 4th - along with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams - who both died in 1826.

Ames was born in Dedham in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. His father, Nathaniel Ames, died when Fisher was but six years old, but his mother, Deborah Fisher, resolved, in spite of her limited income, to give the boy a classical education. He belonged to one of the oldest families in Massachusetts and in his line of his ancestry was William Ames. At the age of six he began the study of Latin, and at the age of twelve, he was sent to Harvard College, graduating in 1774 when he began work as a teacher. While teaching school Ames also studied law in the office of William Tudor. In 1779 he was received as a law pupil in a Boston law firm, and in 1781 was admitted to the Suffolk bar. and commenced his law practice in Dedham that same year. Ames was not very fond of law but practiced it successfully.

He had a brother, also named Nathaniel Ames. The brothers had opposite political views and social styles. Nathaniel "enjoyed his role as country doctor, servant of the proletariat, and champion of the common man." He became the leader of the Democratic-Republican Party in Dedham. He was most at home around the farmers and laborers with whom he grew up. Fisher, on the other hand, liked to dress well, hobnob with Boston society, and was an influential Federalist. Fisher operated his law practice out of the first floor of the Ames Tavern.

He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1793. Ames had six children, including John, Seth, and William with his wife, Frances. Ames owned a farm on Federal Hill in Dedham that he rented out. If the weather was fair while he was home from Washington, he would walk to the farm every day to inspect the crops growing there.

In 1788, he became a member of the Massachusetts convention that ratified the United States Constitution. His "lucid and persuasive" speeches in the convention helped to sway enough votes to adopt the Constitution. Later that year, he was elected to serve in the Massachusetts House of Representatives alongside Nathaniel Kingsbury.

After stepping down from Congress, he stayed in politics and was a member of the Governor's Council from 1798 to 1800. In his new role, Ames offered one of the great orations on the death of President Washington.

Ames was elected to the First United States Congress, having beaten Samuel Adams for the post. He was surprised by his win. He was a member of the Federalist Party, specifically its Essex Junto. When Ames reported to Congress in late March 1789, he was assigned to the standing committee of Congressman who would plan and execute the inauguration of President George Washington. Ames said: "When I saw Washington, I felt strong emotions. I believe that no man ever had so fair a claim to veneration as he." Later, on Inauguration Day, he sat in the same pew at St. Paul's Church, New York, for the Christian service after the inauguration, and more famously said: "Time has made havoc upon his face."

Ames also served in the Second and Third Congresses and as a Federalist to the Fourth Congress. He served in Congress from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1797. During the First Congress, he was chairman of the Committee on Elections. In 1796, he was not a candidate for renomination but resumed the practice of law in Dedham.