CIVIL WAR CONGRESS BLACK SUFFRAGE SENATOR PRESIDENT IMPEACHMENT AUTOGRAPH SIGNED

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

CIVIL WAR CONGRESS BLACK SUFFRAGE SENATOR PRESIDENT IMPEACHMENT AUTOGRAPH SIGNED:
$14.99

JAMES FALCONER WILSON

“Jefferson Jim”

(1828 – 1895)

UNITED STATES CIVIL WARRADICAL REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN,

“BLACK SUFFRAGE” CIVILRIGHTS SENATOR FROM IOWA

ONE OF THE 7 MANAGERSAPPOINTED by the HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES IN 1868 TO CONDUCT THE IMPEACHMENTTRIAL OF PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON!

Wilson supported the civilrights movemnet and objected to President Johnson’s attempts to veto the Civil Rights Act of 1866and the Reconstruction Acts.Despite his initial misgivings, he ultimately voted to impeach PresidentJohnson and was a member of the prosecution in his impeachment trials in 1868.He supported the first bill in Congress to provide voting rights to blackcitizens of the District of Columbia! President Ulysses S. Grant offered Wilsonthe post of Secretary of State, but Wilson declined the position.

Here’s Wilson’s signature removed from a19th Century Autograph Album - Boldly Signed and Dated:

“James F. Wilson

Iowa

June 12th1886”

The document measures 6½”x 2½” and is in Very fine condition.

An Excellent Piece ofIowa Political History to add to your Autograph, Manuscript & EphemeraCollection!

* * * *

Biographical Sketch of

James F. Wilson

James Falconer \"Jefferson Jim\" Wilson(October 19, 1828– April 22, 1895) was a lawyer, RepublicanU.S. Congressmanfrom Iowa\'s 1st congressionaldistrict during the American Civil War,and a two-term U.S. Senatorfrom Iowa. He was a pioneer in the advancement of federal protection for civilrights.

In the last half of the nineteenth century, two unrelated Iowans namedJames Wilson achieved high office, necessitating an early form ofdisambiguation. Representative and Senator James F. Wilson (of Jefferson County, Iowa)became known as \"Jefferson Jim\" Wilson, while Representative andSecretary of Agriculture James Wilson(of Tama County, Iowa)became known as \"Tama Jim\" Wilson

Personal background

Wilson was born in Newark,Ohio. After his father died when James was eleven, James neededto work from an early age, and attended school when work permitted. Afterserving as a harnessmaker\'s apprentice,he studied law in Newark alongside future U.S. Supreme CourtJustice William Burnham Woods.He was admitted to the bar in 1851 and practiced in Newark from until 1853.

In 1853, he moved to Fairfield,Iowa, where he resumed the practice of law.

Wilson played an important role in the formation of the Iowa Republican Party,and antebellum Iowa government. In1857, he was a delegate to Iowa\'s constitutionalconvention, and served as a Republican in the Iowa House of Representativesthat year and in 1859. Elected next to the IowaSenate, he served in that house until 1861, when he was itspresident.

U.S. House of Representatives

In 1860, Wilson and three others, including incumbent Samuel R. Curtis,vied for the Republican nomination to represent Iowa\'s 1st congressionaldistrict in the U.S. House ofRepresentatives. Curtis won the nomination, then thegeneral election. After the outbreak of the Civil War, however, Curtis resignedto accept appointment as an officer of the UnionArmy. At the convention called to choose the Republican nomineeto succeed Curtis, \"it was a foregone conclusion that James F. Wilsonwould be the unanimous choice.\" In October 1861 Wilson was elected to fill thevacancy, easily defeating Democrat Jairus E. Neal.

After completing Curtis\'s term in the Thirty-seventh Congress,he was re-elected three times, serving in the Thirty-eighth,Thirty-ninth,and FortiethCongresses. He was chairman of the House Committee on theJudiciary during the tumultuous periods during the War and Reconstruction.

Wilson was aligned with the faction of his Party known at the time as the\"Radical Republicans.\"He supported civil rights moves and objected to President AndrewJohnson\'s attempts to veto the Civil Rights Act of 1866and the Reconstruction Acts.Despite his initial misgivings, he ultimately voted to impeach PresidentJohnson and was a member of the prosecution in his impeachment trialsin 1868. He supported the first bill in Congress to provide voting rights toblack citizens of the District of Columbia.He was not a candidate for renomination in 1868, explaining prior to thedistrict convention that with the election of an acceptable Republicanpresident guaranteed and a change in administration inevitable, a change inrepresentation of the First District was also timely.In all, Wilson served inthe House from October 8, 1861, to March 4, 1869.

President Ulysses S. Grantoffered Wilson the post of Secretary of State,but Wilson declined it, serving instead as government director of the PacificRailroad for eight years.

U.S. Senate

In 1882, the Iowa General Assemblyelected Wilson to the U.S. Senate.His first initiative as a U.S. Senator was to propose an unsuccessfulconstitutional amendment to more explicitly authorize the federal government toadopt laws that protect civil rights from violations by private citizens, tonullify the Supreme Court\'s ruling two months earlier in the Civil Rights Cases,109 U.S. 3 (1883). The General Assembly re-elected him in 1888 to a secondsix-year term. In the Senate, Wilson served as chairman of the Committee ofMines and Mining (in the Forty-eighth Congress) Committee on Expenditures ofPublic Money (in the Forty-eighth Congress), Committee on Revision of the Lawsof the United States (in the Forty-ninth through Fifty-second Congresses), andthe Committee on Education and Labor (in the Fifty-second Congress).

In 1890, Wilson was one of three Senators mentioned as potential nomineesto fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court created by the death of Justice SamuelF. Miller of Iowa. President BenjaminHarrison instead picked Michigan judge Henry Billings Brown,who would later write the Supreme Court\'s opinion upholding \"separate butequal\" racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson,163U.S. 537 (1896).

Death

Wilson died in Fairfield shortly after his second Senate term ended. Inits obituary, the New York Timesattributed his death to \"paralysis of the brain\", and stated that hisdeath had been expected. Hewas interred in Fairfield-Evergreen Cemetery.

I am a proud member ofthe Universal Autograph Collectors Club (UACC), The Ephemera Society ofAmerica, the Manuscript Society & the American Political Items Collectors(APIC) (member name: John Lissandrello). I subscribe to each organizations\'code of ethics and authenticity is guaranteed. ~Providing quality service &historical memorabilia online for over ten years.~WE ONLY SELL GENUINE ITEMS, i.e., NO REPRODUCTIONS, FAKES OR COPIES!