Samuel Mayes Arnell | |
|---|---|
| Member of the United States House of Representatives fromTennessee's 6th district | |
| In office 24 July 1866 – 3 March 1871 | |
| Preceded by | James H. Thomas |
| Succeeded by | Washington C. Whitthorne |
| Tennessee House of Representatives | |
| In office 1865–1866 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 May 1833 Zion Settlement,Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | 20 July 1903 (aged 70) Johnson City, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Political party | Unconditional Union(1865–67) Republican(after 1867) |
| Alma mater | Amherst College |
| Occupation | Attorney,postmaster, superintendent of schools |
Samuel Mayes Arnell (May 3, 1833 – July 20, 1903) was an American lawyer and politician who represented the6th congressional district ofTennessee in theUnited States House of Representatives. He was a staunch Unionist andRepublican. He had owned slaves.[1][2] He later served as school superintendent and postmaster. He wrote a memoir.
He was born on May 3, 1833, at Zion Settlement, nearColumbia, Tennessee, inMaury County. He attendedAmherst College inAmherst, Massachusetts, studied law, was admitted to thebar, and commenced practice in Columbia. He started a leather manufacturing business in 1859. He owned slaves.[3] During theCivil War, he supported theUnion actively, suffering injury, threats to his life, and property damage fromConfederate forces.[4]
He was a member of theTennessee state constitutional convention in 1865. He served in theTennessee House of Representatives in 1865 and 1866, where he authored a series of bills to expand voting rights to former slaves and that attempted unsuccessfully to strip the voting rights of former Confederate soldiers and officials for periods of 5 and 15 years, respectively;[2] however, the definitions used to expand rights to blacks are seen by some historians as also having established an early version of the "one-drop" rule in Tennessee law.[5]
Upon the readmission of Tennessee to representation, he was elected as anUnconditional Unionist to theThirty-ninth Congress. He was re-elected as aRepublican to theFortieth andForty-first Congresses. He served from July 24, 1866, to March 3, 1871, but he was not a candidate for renomination in 1870. During the Forty-first Congress, he was the chairman of theCommittee on Expenditures in the Department of State. He was chairman of theUnited States House Committee on Education and Labor during the Forty-first Congress. He also was adelegate to theRepublican National Convention from Tennessee in 1868.
He resumed the practice of law inWashington, D.C., then later returned toColumbia, Tennessee. He was thepostmaster of Columbia from 1879 to 1885. He was the superintendent of public schools from 1885 to 1888.[4] Near the end of his life, he authored his memoirs, "‘Ten Years of Tennessee History’ or ‘The War of Secession and Reconstruction in Tennessee, 1861-1871.’"[6]
He died on July 20, 1903, inJohnson City, Tennessee, inWashington County. He wasinterred in Monte Visa Cemetery.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromTennessee's 6th congressional district 1866–1871 | Succeeded by |
| Education and Labor (1867–1883) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Education (1883–1947) | ||
| Labor (1883–1947) | ||
| Education and Labor* (1947–) | ||
| Note | * Alternately namedEconomic and Educational Opportunities in 104th Congress andEducation and the Workforce in 105th through 109th and 112th through 115th Congresses. | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
