James
M. Ashley was
born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
on 14th November, 1824. He worked as a clerk on boats operating on
the Ohio and Missississippi Rivers. He continued to study law in his
free time and in 1849 was admitted to the bar.
Ashley moved to Toledo, Ohio, where he became involved in the wholesale
drug business. A member of the Republican
Party, he was elected to the 36th Congress and took his seat on
4th March, 1859.
A strong
opponent of slavery Ashley became one of the leaders of the Radical
Republicans in Congress and played a prominant role in the passing
of the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution
in 1865.
Ashley developed a belief that Andrew Johnson
was involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He was also
angry with Johnson over his attempts to veto the extension of the
Freeman's Bureau, the Civil
Rights Bill and the Reconstruction
Acts. On 7th January, 1867, Ashley charged Johnson with the "usurpation
of power and violation of law by corruptly using the appointing, pardoning,
and veto powers, by disposing corruptly of the property of the United
States, and by interfering in elections." Congress responded
by referring Ashley's resolution to the Judiciary Committee.
On 7th January, However, this did not help his political career and
he was defeated in the elections for the 41st Congress in November,
1868.
In 1869 President Ulysses S. Grant appointed
Ashley the governor of Montana. He was also president of the Toledo,
Ann Arbor & Northern Railroad (1877-1893). James M. Ashley died
on 16th September, 1896.
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