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Aaron Augustus Sargent
Portrait byMathew Bradyc. 1869–1879
United States Envoy to the German Empire
In office August 15, 1881 – September 10, 1884
President	James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur
Preceded by	Andrew Dickson White
Succeeded by	John Adam Kasson
United States Senator fromCalifornia
In office March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1879
Preceded by	Cornelius Cole
Succeeded by	James T. Farley
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia
In office March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1873
Preceded by	William Higby
Succeeded by	Horace F. Page
Constituency	2nd district
In office March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863
Preceded by	Charles L. Scott
Succeeded by	William Higby
Constituency	At-large district
District Attorney ofNevada County
In office 1856–1857
Personal details
Born	(1827-09-28)September 28, 1827 Newburyport, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	August 14, 1887(1887-08-14) (aged 59) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Party	Republican
Spouse	Ellen Clark ​ (m. 1852)​
Profession	Journalist, lawyer, politician

Aaron Augustus Sargent (September 28, 1827 – August 14, 1887) was an American journalist, lawyer, politician and diplomat. In 1878, Sargent historically introduced what would later become the19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote. He was sometimes called the "Senator for theSouthern Pacific Railroad".

Born inNewburyport, Massachusetts, he attended the common schools and then was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker.^[1] In his youth, he worked as a printer inPhiladelphia and then, in 1847, moved to Washington, D.C., where he was a secretary to a Congressman.

He moved to California in 1849 and settled inNevada City in 1850. There he was on the staff of theNevada Daily Journal, eventually becoming that newspaper's owner. He was admitted to the California bar in 1854 and began practicing in Nevada City, becomingdistrict attorney forNevada County in 1856. He served in theCalifornia State Senate in 1856, and was an unsuccessful candidate forU.S. Senate in1857.

Sargent was elected as aRepublican to the37th Congress; skipped several terms and was reelected to the41st and42nd Congresses. In 1861 he was the author of thefirst Pacific Railroad Act that was passed inCongress.

He was elected to theUnited States Senate in1871 and served from 1873 to 1879. During his time in the Senate, he was chairman of theU.S. Senate Committee on Mines and Mining during the44th Congress and chairman of theU.S. Senate Committee on Naval Affairs during the45th Congress.

In January 1878, Senator Sargent introduced the 29 words that would later become the19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote. Sargent's wife,Ellen Clark Sargent, was a leading voting rights advocate and a friend of such suffrage leaders asSusan B. Anthony. The bill calling for the amendment would be introduced unsuccessfully each year for the next forty years.

Sargent returned to California in 1880. After leaving the Senate he practiced law in San Francisco for three years, leaving to becomeUnited States Ambassador to Germany for two years, and held office until German authorities excluded American pork from theGerman Empire which made his position personally distasteful. He turned down the appointment ofAmbassador to Russia afterWilliam H. Hunt's death and made an unsuccessful attempt for the Republican nomination for the Senate in 1885.

He died in San Francisco in 1887.^[2] His original interment atLaurel Hill Cemetery in San Francisco, which closed by 1941.^[3] According to Sargent's descendants, A.A. Sargent's ashes were spread over the placer mine he had in Nevada City and a monument to him may be found in the oldPioneer Cemetery in Nevada City.

Sargent was a noted proponent of theChinese Exclusion Act of 1882, arguing inOverland Monthly in support of exclusion and for the renewal of the 1882 Exclusion Act after its expiration in 1892. The Chinese Exclusion Act was eventually renewed in 1892, and again—indefinitely—in 1902, staying in effect until 1943.

• Sargent, A A (November 1885)."The Wyoming anti-Chinese riot".Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine. Vol. 6, no. 35. San Francisco. pp. 507–512.ProQuest 137560189.
• Sargent, A A (January 1886)."'The Wyoming Anti-Chinese Riot.'—Again".Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine. Vol. 7, no. 37. San Francisco. pp. 54–60.ProQuest 137565135.
• Shepard, Christopher (Winter 2013). "No Chinese Wanted: Aaron Sargent and Chinese Immigration, 1862-1886".Journal of the West.51 (1):50–57.EBSCOhost 87334901.

• Media related toAaron Augustus Sargent at Wikimedia Commons

• United States Congress."Aaron A. Sargent (id: S000065)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

• 1827 births
• 1887 deaths
• Republican Party California state senators
• Ambassadors of the United States to Germany
• District attorneys in California
• Lawyers from San Francisco
• 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
• American people in rail transportation
• Politicians from San Francisco
• People of California in the American Civil War
• People from Nevada City, California
• Politicians from Newburyport, Massachusetts
• Republican Party United States senators from California
• Ambassadors of the United States to Russia
• 19th-century American diplomats
• Republican Party United States representatives from California
• Suffragists from California
• 19th-century American journalists
• American male journalists
• 19th-century American male writers
• Journalists from California
• 19th-century American lawyers
• Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (San Francisco)
• 19th-century members of the California State Legislature
• 19th-century United States representatives
• 19th-century United States senators
• Diplomats from California

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