Fisher Ames

Fisher Ames was a Representative in the United States Congress from the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts. He became conspicuous in promoting the new Constitution during his state's ratifying convention, which propelled him to election to the United States Congress for four terms concurrent with the Washington Administration. In this role, he was an important leader of the Federalist Party in the House of Representatives and soon became famous for his powerful skill as an orator. Ames was on the committee that inaugurated President Washington, he framed the final accepted wording in the First Amendment regarding freedom of religion in 1789 and fought many key legislative battles successfully for the Federalists in Congress. In his day, his greatest performance was a defense of the Jay Treaty in 1796, which secured enough votes to pass the appropriation for the treaty. Ames's Jay Treaty oration was known for decades afterward and set a standard for later statesman in debate and oratory to follow well into the 19th Century. Ames left Congress in 1797, due to declining health, and continued to be a Federalist essayist for a decade after his Congressional career. Ames died on July 4, 1808, at the age of fifty; making him the first of three Founding Fathers who died on July 4—along with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams—who both died in 1826.