American politician and lawyer
James Ross
(July 12, 1762 – November 27, 1847) was an American politician and lawyer who represented
Pennsylvania
in the
United States Senate
from 1794 to 1803. During his tenure, he served as
president pro tempore of the United States Senate
from March to December 1799.
Biography
[
edit
]
Born near
Delta
,
York County, Pennsylvania
, he was the son of Joseph and Jane (Graham) Ross. At eighteen, after having received a classical education, he moved to
Canonsburg, Pennsylvania
and taught at what would become
Washington and Jefferson College
. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1784 focusing on land law. A
Federalist
, he was a member of the convention that drafted a new constitution for Pennsylvania in 1789?1790.
[1]
In 1791 Ross was elected to the
American Philosophical Society
.
[2]
President
George Washington
appointed him to negotiate with the rebels of the
Whiskey Rebellion
, successfully defusing the situation without violence.
[3]
On April 1, 1794, the Pennsylvania legislature
elected
him to the
United States Senate
to replace
Albert Gallatin
, who was removed by the legislature. There, he authored a new law for the
public lands
and fought President
Thomas Jefferson
's administration. He was elected to a second term in the Senate in
1797
.
In 1800, with the 1800 Presidential Election on the horizon, Ross introduced a controversial bill whereby, after the electoral votes were counted in Congress, the ballots would be turned over to a committee chaired by the Chief Justice and consisting of twelve members, six from each house of Congress. The committee, acting behind closed doors, would be able to discard electoral votes deemed fraudulent after investigation. A group of horrified Republican Senators leaked the bill to arch-Republican Philadelphia printer
William Duane
, who published the contents in his
Aurora
on February 19, 1800. The Federalists quickly dropped the bill.
[4]
On January 15, 1803, amidst the controversies over Spain's revocation of the American right of deposit at New Orleans and French acquisition of Louisiana, Ross moved to afford Jefferson the ability to raise 50,000 troops to seize New Orleans. Jefferson did not want to have to use these troops, but the motion gave United States Minister to France
Robert R. Livingston
leverage in his negotiations, which resulted in the
Louisiana Purchase
.
[5]
He ran unsuccessfully for
Governor of Pennsylvania
in
1799
,
[6]
1802
,
[7]
and
1808
.
[8]
During the late 1810s he is listed as the
Pittsburgh City Council
President.
He died in
Allegheny
, which is now part of
Pittsburgh
. Ross Street in
Downtown Pittsburgh
(bordering the
Pittsburgh City-County Building
and the
Allegheny County Courthouse
), the Pittsburgh suburb of
Ross Township
, the Fox Chapel borough street James Ross Place, and
Ross County, Ohio
, are named in his honor.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Sanford W. Higginbotham,
The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800?1816
(Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1952), p. 19.
- ^
"James Ross"
.
American Philosophical Society Member History
.
American Philosophical Society
. Retrieved
December 16,
2020
.
- ^
Sanford W. Higginbotham,
The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800?1816
(Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1952), p. 19.
- ^
Ray Walters,
Alexander James Dallas, Lawyer, Politician, Financier, 1759?1817
(New York: Da Capo Press, 1969), pp. 92?95.
- ^
George Dangerfield,
Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, 1746?1813
(New York: Harcourt, 1960), pp. 350?57.
- ^
Sanford W. Higginbotham,
The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800?1816
(Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1952), p.
26.
- ^
Sanford W. Higginbotham,
The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800?1816
(Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1952), p.
46.
- ^
Sanford W. Higginbotham,
The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800?1816
(Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1952), pp.
155?75.
External links
[
edit
]
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Notes
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Never officially seated
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Pro-Administration
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Anti-Administration
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Federalist
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Democratic-Republican
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Jacksonian
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National Republican
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Democratic
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Republican
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Independent
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National
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