Existing comment:
Fisher Ames, 1758-1808
In the election held to pick the Boston area's representative to the first federal House of Representatives, Fisher Ames, a young country lawyer who advocated an effective national government, trounced the old Revolutionary Samuel Adams-a critic of the new Constitution-by a vote of 818 to 521. A cogent writer and a dazzling orator, Ames became a star in the emerging Federalist Party-supporting Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton's financial system, refuting James Madison's arguments against the establishment of a national bank, battling attempts to restrict commerce with England, and standing firm against Jeffersonian Republicans' partiality for revolutionary France. Chronic ill health forced Ames's retirement from Congress in 1797, but through his numerous essays he continued to champion the fundamental right of private property and to warn against the "dangers to American liberty" posed by unfiltered democracy.
Gilbert Stuart, c 1807 |