- James W. Grimes
Infobox Senator
name=James Wilson Grimes
width=200px
jr/sr=United States Senator
state=Iowa
party=Whig, Republican
term=March 4 1859 ndashDecember 6 1869
preceded=George W. Jones
succeeded=James B. Howell
date of birth=birth date|1816|10|20|mf=y
place of birth=Deering, New Hampshire
date of death=death date and age|1872|2|7|1816|10|20|mf=y
place of death=Burlington, Iowa
spouse=
religion=
profession=Politician ,Lawyer
footnotes=James Wilson Grimes (born
October 20 1816 ,Deering, New Hampshire ndash d.February 7 1872 ,Burlington, Iowa ) was an Americanpolitician , serving as the Whiggovernor of and senator fromIowa .Grimes graduated from Hampton Academy and attended
Dartmouth College . He studied law; moved west and commenced practice in the 'Black Hawk Purchase',Wisconsin Territory , afterward the site ofBurlington, Iowa . He also engaged in agriculture. Grimes served as a member of the Iowa Territorial House of Representatives 1838–1839, 1843ndash 1844. He served asGovernor of Iowa 1854ndash 1858;Grimes was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1859 and reelected in 1865 He served from
March 4 1859 , untilDecember 6 1869 , when he resigned due to ill health.He served as chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia (37th and 38th Congresses), the Committee on Naval Affairs (39th through 41st Congresses).
In 1861 Grimes was a member of the peace convention held in
Washington, D.C. , in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending Civil War.During President
Andrew Johnson 's impeachment trial, Grimes broke party ranks, along with six other Republican senators, and in a courageous act of political suicide, voted for acquital. These seven Republican senators were disturbed by how the proceedings had been manipulated in order to give a one-sided presentation of the evidence.Senators
William Pitt Fessenden ,Joseph S. Fowler , James W. Grimes,John B. Henderson ,Lyman Trumbull ,Peter G. Van Winkle [ [http://law.jrank.org/pages/13490/Andrew-Johnson-Trial.html "Andrew Johnson Trial: The Consciences of Seven Republicans Save Johnson".] ] , andEdmund G. Ross of Kansas, who provided the decisive vote [ [http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/john.htm "The Trial of Andrew Johnson, 1868".] ] , defied their party and public opinion and voted against impeachment.Grimes died in
Burlington, Iowa onFebruary 7 1872 , aged 55. He buried in the Aspen Grove cemetery, inBurlington, Iowa .References
External links
*http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWgrimes.htm
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000475 bioguide.congress.gov: James Wilson Grimes]
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