Ames was the representative for Massachusetts’s 2nd congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 1865 to 1873.
He was previously the representative for Massachusetts’s 2nd congressional district as a Republican from 1863 to 1865.
Misconduct
Ames faced an allegation of selling $33 million in Credit Mobilier stock to members of Congress and officials of the executive branch at undervalued price with intent to influence votes and decisions of the legislators. On Feb. 18, 1873, a special committee recommended expulsion but the Judiciary committee recommended against expulsion because the acts in question occurred three years before his election to the 42nd Congress. On Feb. 27, 1873, the House of Representatives censured him, 182- 36.
| Feb. 18, 1873 | Special committee recommended expulsion but the Judiciary committee recommended against expulsion because the acts in question occurred three years before his election to the 42nd Congress. |
| Feb. 27, 1873 | House of Representatives censured, 182- 36 |
![Photo of Rep. Oakes Ames [R-MA2, 1865-1873]](/static/legislator-photos/400830-200px.jpeg)
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Dec 1863 to Mar 1873, Ames missed 978 of 3,081 roll call votes, which is 31.7%. This is worse than the median of 24.6% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Mar 1873. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
- Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
