# James M. Mason

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American politician (1798–1871)

James M. Mason Portrait by Mathew Brady President pro tempore of the United States Senate In office January 6, 1857 – March 3, 1857 Preceded by Jesse D. Bright Succeeded by Thomas J. Rusk United States Senator from Virginia In office January 21, 1847 – March 28, 1861 Preceded by Isaac S. Pennybacker Succeeded by Waitman T. Willey Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 15th district In office March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1839 Preceded by Edward Lucas Succeeded by William Lucas Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Frederick County In office December 1, 1828 – December 4, 1831 Serving with William Castleman Jr. and William Wood Preceded by William Barton Succeeded by Constituency reestablished In office December 4, 1826 – December 2, 1827 Serving with James Ship Preceded by George Kiger Succeeded by William Barton Personal details Born James Murray Mason (1798-11-03)November 3, 1798 Analostan Island, D.C., U.S. Died April 28, 1871(1871-04-28) (aged 72) Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. Resting place Christ Church Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. Party Jacksonian Democratic Spouse Eliza Chew Relations George Mason V (uncle) George Mason (grandfather) Thomson Mason (granduncle) Education University of Pennsylvania (BA) College of William & Mary (LLB) Signature

**James Murray Mason** (November 3, 1798 – April 28, 1871) was an American lawyer and politician who became a [Confederate](/source/Confederate_States_of_America) diplomat. He served as [U.S. Senator](/source/U.S._Senator) from [Virginia](/source/Virginia) for fourteen years, having previously represented [Virginia's 15th congressional district](/source/Virginia's_15th_congressional_district) in the [U.S. House of Representatives](/source/U.S._House_of_Representatives), and [Frederick County](/source/Frederick_County%2C_Virginia) in the [Virginia House of Delegates](/source/Virginia_House_of_Delegates).[1][2]

A grandson of [George Mason](/source/George_Mason), Mason strongly supported slavery as well as Virginia's secession as the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War) began. He was chairman of the [United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations](/source/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_Foreign_Relations) from 1851 until his expulsion in 1861 for supporting the [Confederate States of America](/source/Confederate_States_of_America), and he took great interest in protecting American cotton exporters. As the Confederacy's leading diplomat, he traveled to Europe seeking support, but proved unable to get the United Kingdom to recognize the Confederacy as a country. As Mason sailed to England in November 1861, the U.S. Navy captured the British ship on which he was sailing and detained him, in what became known as the [Trent Affair](/source/Trent_Affair). Released after two months, Mason continued his voyage and assisted Confederate purchases from Britain and Europe, but he failed to achieve their diplomatic involvement. As the war ended, Mason went into exile in Canada, but later returned to [Alexandria, Virginia](/source/Alexandria%2C_Virginia), where he died in 1871.[3]

## Early life

Mason was born on Analostan Island, now [Theodore Roosevelt Island](/source/Theodore_Roosevelt_Island), in the [District of Columbia](/source/District_of_Columbia). He graduated from the [University of Pennsylvania](/source/University_of_Pennsylvania) (1818), then studied law in [Williamsburg, Virginia](/source/Williamsburg%2C_Virginia), and earned a law degree from the [College of William & Mary](/source/College_of_William_%26_Mary)'s [Law School](/source/William_%26_Mary_Law_School) (1820).

## Political career

Following admission to the Virginia bar, Mason practiced law in Virginia, and also operated a plantation in Frederick County. A partially illegible census record shows that he may have owned five slaves in 1830.[4] In the 1850 federal census, Mason owned ten enslaved people, half of them children under ten years of age.[5] In that year, he (or another man of similar name) also owned a 25-year-old Black woman and her four children in nearby [Rappahannock County](/source/Rappahannock_County%2C_Virginia).[6] In the 1860 census, Mason owned a 49-year-old Black man, a 35-year-old Black woman, and children aged 14, 13, 12, 10 and 3 years old.[7] and he or another James M. Mason owned seven enslaved children (the eldest a 13-year-old girl) in southern Culpeper County.[8]

Mason soon began his political career, well before his father's death, winning election several times as one of [Frederick County](/source/Frederick_County%2C_Virginia)'s (part-time) representatives in the [Virginia House of Delegates](/source/Virginia_House_of_Delegates). His first term began on December 4, 1826, alongside one-term veteran James Ship, but only Ship won re-election the following year. In 1828, Ship failed to win re-election and Mason won the election to represent the gateway to the [Shenandoah Valley](/source/Shenandoah_Valley) together with William Castleman, Jr., and both won re-election the following year. After veteran legislator Hierome L. Opie, one of the four joint delegates of Frederick and neighboring Jefferson County to the [Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830](/source/Virginia_Constitutional_Convention_of_1829-1830), resigned, Mason took his place alongside [John R. Cooke](/source/John_R._Cooke), congressman [Alfred H. Powell](/source/Alfred_H._Powell) and fellow delegate Thomas Griggs Jr.

Although some had hoped that convention would limit slaveholder power, the resulting constitution only gave additional votes to western Virginians (including those in Frederick County and those counties which would secede and become [West Virginia](/source/West_Virginia) during the American Civil War), so Mason and Castleman were re-elected and joined by [William Wood](/source/William_Wood_(Virginia_politician)) for the 1830–1831 legislative session.[9]

In 1836, Congressman [Edward Lucas](/source/Edward_Lucas_(congressman)) of [Shepherdstown](/source/Shepherdstown%2C_West_Virginia) (in what would become [West Virginia](/source/West_Virginia) decades later) announced his retirement. Voters in [Virginia's 15th congressional district](/source/Virginia's_15th_congressional_district) elected Mason as his successor in the [Twenty-fifth United States Congress](/source/Twenty-fifth_United_States_Congress). The [Jackson Democrat](/source/Jackson_Democrat) only served a single term, and was succeeded by Lucas' brother [William Lucas](/source/William_Lucas_(Virginia_politician)).[10]

In 1847, Virginia legislators elected Mason to the Senate after incumbent [Isaac S. Pennybacker](/source/Isaac_S._Pennybacker) died in office, and Mason won re-election in 1850 and 1856. Mason famously read aloud the dying Senator [John C. Calhoun](/source/John_C._Calhoun)'s final speech to the Senate, on March 4, 1850, which warned of the likely breakup of the country if the [North](/source/Union_(American_Civil_War)) did not permanently accept the existence of slavery in the [South](/source/Southern_United_States), as well as its expansion into the Western territories. Mason also complained of Northern [personal liberty laws](/source/Personal_liberty_laws), intended to help [fugitive slaves](/source/Fugitive_slaves): "Although the loss of property is felt, the loss of [honor](/source/Honor) is felt still more."[11]

Mason was [President pro tempore of the Senate](/source/President_pro_tempore_of_the_United_States_Senate) for two months in early 1857 (January 6 to March 3).

### Champion of slavery

Mason "championed the Southern political platform", "and slavery, another of the three themes that most affected his life, lay at the core of that political ideology."[12] (The other two themes were the secession of Virginia and the establishment of the Confederacy.)

Mason was not only a [white supremacist](/source/White_supremacist), he believed that negroes were "the great curse of the country". Giving Blacks the vote particularly offended him; it was, he thought, the rule of the mob and the "end of the republic".[13][14]: 260

He so believed in the beneficence of slavery that, unlike many others in Frederick County, Mason refused to support the [colonization project](/source/American_Colonization_Society) that led to the founding of [Liberia](/source/History_of_Liberia). Mason's solution to the "problem" of free blacks was returning them to slavery, stating they were better off enslaved in the United States than they could possibly be in Africa. Mason believed that slavery did not need to be established or require a law to make it legal; it had already been established by God, as recorded in the Bible. It already existed in Africa: "The negro is as much property in Africa as the bullock or the ox". His position was that Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery anywhere, and certainly not in [Kansas](/source/Kansas_Territory).[15] Slavery was a condition, not an institution, by which he meant that Americans were not enslaving Africans, they were merely purchasing them from other Africans that had already enslaved them.

Mason wrote the [Fugitive Slave Law of 1850](/source/Fugitive_Slave_Law_of_1850), arguably the most hated and openly-evaded Federal legislation in U.S. history. The whole idea of using "[popular sovereignty](/source/Popular_sovereignty_in_the_United_States)" as a means to expand slavery into the Western territories, starting with [Kansas](/source/Territorial_Kansas), leading to the [Kansas-Nebraska Act](/source/Kansas-Nebraska_Act) and the violence of the [Bleeding Kansas](/source/Bleeding_Kansas) period, was hatched in Mason's Washington boarding house.[14]: 65 Mason a was also the chair of the ad-hoc Senate committee that investigated [John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry](/source/John_Brown's_raid_on_Harpers_Ferry), and wrote its report, informally known as the Mason Report.[16]

### Secession advocate

Continuing the tradition of his mentor [John C. Calhoun](/source/John_C._Calhoun), whose last speech (1850) Mason read to the Senate when Calhoun was too sick to do so himself, Mason strongly believed states had the right to secede. Furthermore, the North's intolerance of their "[peculiar institution](/source/Peculiar_institution)", their "property rights" (the right to own human beings), left them no other choice than secession. He said he didn't need reasons to leave the Union, he needed a reason to stay in the Union.[12]: 101

Mason strongly favored the South's "immediate, absolute, and eternal separation" if anti-slavery, Republican candidate [John C. Frémont](/source/John_C._Fr%C3%A9mont) were [elected president in 1856](/source/U.S._Presidential_election_of_1856).[12]: 83

In 1861 Mason worked behind the scenes to enable Virginia's secession, remaining in the Senate because he could get information useful for the seceding states, a type of spy behind enemy lines.[12]: 100 He and Virginia's other Senator, [Robert Hunter](/source/Robert_M._T._Hunter), told the commissioners of the new Confederate states that Virginia would join the secession if [Jefferson Davis](/source/Jefferson_Davis) was elected president of a Southern confederacy, but not if it was radical Alabama "[fire-rater](/source/Fire-Eaters)" [William L. Yancey](/source/William_L._Yancey), seen in Virginia as too extreme. Davis was chosen as president three days later.[12]: 103

Mason disappears from Senate activities in March 1861. He and other Southern senators were [expelled](/source/Expulsion_from_the_United_States_Congress) from the Senate on July 11 by a vote of 32 to 10, because "they were engaged in a conspiracy for the destruction of the Union and Government, or, with full knowledge of said conspiracy, had failed to advise the Government of its progress or aid in its suppression."[17][18]

## Confederate diplomat

Mason became one of Virginia's representatives to the Provisional Confederate Congress from February 1861 through February 1862.[19] However, his legislative duties were interrupted by a diplomatic assignment. While Mason sailed toward England as a Confederate envoy to Britain on the British mail steamer [RMS *Trent*](/source/RMS_Trent), the ship was stopped by the [USS *San Jacinto*](/source/USS_San_Jacinto_(1850)) on November 8, 1861. Mason and fellow Confederate diplomat [John Slidell](/source/John_Slidell) were taken off the ship and confined in [Fort Warren](/source/Fort_Warren_(Massachusetts)) in [Boston Harbor](/source/Boston_Harbor).

The [*Trent* Affair](/source/Trent_Affair) threatened to bring Britain into open war with the United States, despite triumphant rhetoric in the north. Even the cool-headed Lincoln was swept along in the celebratory spirit, but enthusiasm waned when he and his cabinet studied the likely consequences of a war with Britain. After careful diplomatic exchanges, they admitted that the capture was contrary to maritime law and that private citizens could not be classified as "enemy despatches". Slidell and Mason were released, and war was averted. The two diplomats set sail for England again, via the British colony of St. Thomas, on January 1, 1862.

Mason represented the Confederacy in England, attempting to convince the British that the [Union's blockade of the South](/source/Union_blockade) was just a "paper blockade", too ineffective to qualify for recognition under the terms of the 1856 [Declaration of Paris](/source/Paris_Declaration_Respecting_Maritime_Law), but his primary mission was to seek British [diplomatic recognition](/source/Diplomatic_recognition) of the Confederacy. After Britain issued its refusal in 1863, he moved to Paris, continuing his search for a nation that would recognize or assist the Confederacy, but the French were unwilling to do so alone, without the support of the British. He remained in France until April 1865.[20]

## Later life

First Selma mansion, Winchester, Virginia, destroyed in 1863

In 1862, when the Union army occupied [Winchester, Virginia](/source/Winchester%2C_Virginia), where Mason made his home, his house, "Selma",[a] was requisitioned for regimental offices.[21]: 67–68 The lower officers probably did not know who Mason was, but the commanding officer, General [Nathaniel P. Banks](/source/Nathaniel_P._Banks), formerly a Congressman and then Governor of Massachusetts, certainly must have.

Learning of Mason's pro-slavery activism and his authorship of the hated Fugitive Slave Act, the soldiers, on their own initiative, set about destroying the house . The roof came off first. Sometime later the walls were pulled down and everything burnable was chopped into firewood. They were so thorough that "from turret to foundation stone, not one stone remains upon another; the negro houses, the out-buildings [there was an [ice house](/source/Ice_house_(building))], the fences are all gone, and even the trees are many of them girdled".[22] According to Mason, the house was "obliterated".[13] He never lived in Winchester again.

From 1865 until 1868 Mason was in exile in [Canada](/source/Canada). After sanctions on Confederate officials were lifted, he returned to the United States, and bought the [Clarens Estate](/source/Clarens_(Alexandria%2C_Virginia)), on 26 acres (11 ha),[b] today in [Alexandria, Virginia](/source/Alexandria%2C_Virginia).[14]: 258–259 He brought white servants from Canada, and went to some trouble to find others, as he did not want to hire any blacks; he believed free blacks to be "worse than worthless".[14]: 260 He died at Clarens in 1871, and was interred in the churchyard of [Christ Church](/source/Christ_Church_(Alexandria%2C_Virginia)) in Alexandria.[1][2] His death was not noted by anyone outside his family.[14]: 264

James M. Mason, photograph by [Mathew Brady](/source/Mathew_Brady)

## Family

### Marriage and children

Mason married Eliza Margaretta Chew (1798–1874) on 25 July 1822 at [Cliveden](/source/Cliveden_(Benjamin_Chew_House)) in [Germantown](/source/Germantown%2C_Philadelphia%2C_Pennsylvania), [Pennsylvania](/source/Pennsylvania).[1][2] The couple had eight children:[1]

- Anna Maria Mason Ambler (31 January 1825 – 17 August 1863)[1]

- Benjamin Chew Mason (1826–1847)[1]

- Catharine Chew Mason Dorsey (24 March 1828 – 28 April 1893)[1]

- George Mason (16 April 1830 – 3 February 1895)[1]

- Virginia Mason (12 December 1833 – 11 October 1920)[1]

- Eliza Ida Oswald Mason (10 August 1836 – 16 December 1885)[1]

- James Murray Mason, Jr. (24 August 1839 – 10 January 1923)[1]

- John A. Mason (17 November 1841 – 6 June 1925)[1]

He was a grandson of [George Mason](/source/George_Mason) (1725–1792); nephew of [George Mason V](/source/George_Mason_V) (1753–1796);[1][2] grandnephew of [Thomson Mason](/source/Thomson_Mason) (1733–1785);[1][2] first cousin once removed of [Stevens Thomson Mason](/source/Stevens_Thomson_Mason_(Virginia)) (1760–1803) and [John Thomson Mason](/source/John_Thomson_Mason) (1765–1824);[1][2] son of John Mason (1766–1849) and Anna Maria Murray Mason (1776–1857);[1][2] first cousin of [Thomson Francis Mason](/source/Thomson_Francis_Mason) (1785–1838), [George Mason VI](/source/George_Mason_VI) (1786–1834), and [Richard Barnes Mason](/source/Richard_Barnes_Mason) (1797–1850);[1][2] second cousin of [Armistead Thomson Mason](/source/Armistead_Thomson_Mason) (1787–1819), [John Thomson Mason](/source/John_Thomson_Mason_(1787%E2%80%931850)) (1787–1850), and [John Thomson Mason, Jr.](/source/John_Thomson_Mason%2C_Jr.) (1815–1873);[1][2] second cousin once removed of [Stevens Thomson Mason](/source/Stevens_T._Mason) (1811–1843);[1][2] and first cousin thrice removed of [Charles O'Conor Goolrick](/source/C._O'Conor_Goolrick).[1][2]

- Sister Sarah Maria was the wife of [Confederate](/source/Confederate_States_of_America) [general](/source/General_officer) [Adjutant](/source/Adjutant) [Samuel Cooper (general)](/source/Samuel_Cooper_(general)).

- Sister Anna Maria was the wife of [Sydney Smith Lee](/source/Sydney_Smith_Lee)-son of [Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee](/source/Henry_Lee_III); they were the parents of [Confederate](/source/Confederate_States_of_America) [Major General](/source/Major_general_(United_States)) and Virginia [Governor](/source/Governor) [Fitzhugh Lee](/source/Fitzhugh_Lee).

- Brother John T. married Catherine Macomb, daughter of Gen. [Alexander Macomb, Jr.](/source/Alexander_Macomb%2C_Jr.), Commanding General of the army (1828–1841).

Ancestors of James M. Mason 16. George Mason II 8. George Mason III 17. Mary Fowke 4. George Mason IV 18. Stevens Thomson 9. Ann Stevens Thomson 19. Dorothea Taunton 2. John Mason 20. William Eilbeck 10. William Eilbeck 21. Margaret Dixon 5. Ann Eilbeck 22. John Edgar 11. Sarah Edgar 23. Johanna 1. James Murray Mason 24. James Murray 12. William Murray 25. Sarah Thomas 6. James Murray 26. James Smith 13. Ann Smith 27. Sarah Hynson 3. Anna Maria Murray 28. Daniel Maynadier 14. Daniel Maynadier 29. Hannah Haskins 7. Sarah Ennalls Maynadier 30. William Vans Murray 15. Mary Murray 31. Sarah Ennalls

## Assessments by political opponents

One perspective comes from Republican politician [Carl Schurz](/source/Carl_Schurz). His visit to Washington coincided with debate over the [Kansas-Nebraska Act](/source/Kansas-Nebraska_Act).

Still another type was represented to me by Senator Mason of Virginia, a thick-set, heavily built man with a decided expression of dullness in his face. What he had to say appeared to me to come from a sluggish intellect spurred into activity by an overweening self-conceit. He, too, would constantly assert in manner, even more than in language, the superiority of the Southern slave-holder over the Northern people. But it was not the prancing pride of Senator [Butler](/source/Andrew_Butler) nor the cheery buoyancy of the fighting spirit of [Toombs](/source/Robert_Toombs) that animated him. It appeared rather to be the surly pretension of a naturally stupid person to be something better than other people, and the insistence that they must bow to his assumed aristocracy and all its claims. When I heard Senator Mason speak, I felt that if I were a member of the Senate, his supercilious attitude and his pompous utterances of dull commonplace, sometimes very offensive by their overbearing tone, would have been particularly exasperating to me.[23]

A leading Republican Senator [Charles Sumner](/source/Charles_Sumner) commented:

Among these hostile senators, there is yet another, with all the prejudices of the senator from South Carolina, but without his generous impulses, who, on account of his character. before the country, and the rancor of his opposition, deserves to be named. I mean the senator from Virginia [Mr. Mason], who, as the author of the Fugitive Slave Bill, has associated himself with a special act of inhumanity and tyranny. Of him I shall say little, for he has said little in this debate, though within that little was compressed the bitterness of a life absorbed in the support of Slavery. He holds the commission of Virginia; but he does not represent that early Virginia, so clear to our hearts, which gave to us the pen of Jefferson, by which the equality of men was declared, and the sword of Washington, by which Independence was secured; but he represents that other Virginia, from which Washington and Jefferson now avert their faces, where human beings are bred as cattle for the shambles, and where a dungeon rewards the pious matron who teaches little children to relieve their bondage by reading the Book of Life. It is proper that such a senator, representing such a State, should rail against Free Kansas.[24]

## See also

- [List of United States senators expelled or censured](/source/List_of_United_States_senators_expelled_or_censured)

## References

**Informational notes**

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** Other Virginia houses named "Selma" are in [Eastville](/source/Selma_(Eastville%2C_Virginia)) and [Leesburg, Virginia](/source/Selma_(Leesburg%2C_Virginia)).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** In 2008 the house alone sold for over $8,000,000, equivalent to $11,962,906 in 2025.

**Citations**

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-GH_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-GH_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-GH_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-GH_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-GH_1-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-GH_1-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-GH_1-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-GH_1-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-GH_1-8) [***j***](#cite_ref-GH_1-9) [***k***](#cite_ref-GH_1-10) [***l***](#cite_ref-GH_1-11) [***m***](#cite_ref-GH_1-12) [***n***](#cite_ref-GH_1-13) [***o***](#cite_ref-GH_1-14) [***p***](#cite_ref-GH_1-15) [***q***](#cite_ref-GH_1-16) [***r***](#cite_ref-GH_1-17) [***s***](#cite_ref-GH_1-18) [***t***](#cite_ref-GH_1-19) Lee, Michele (May 18, 2011). ["James Murray Mason"](https://web.archive.org/web/20090926055445/http://www.gunstonhall.org/library/masonweb/p6.htm#i256). *Gunston Hall*. Archived from [the original](http://www.gunstonhall.org/library/masonweb/p6.htm#i256) on September 26, 2009. Retrieved March 7, 2009.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-PG_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-PG_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-PG_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-PG_2-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-PG_2-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-PG_2-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-PG_2-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-PG_2-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-PG_2-8) [***j***](#cite_ref-PG_2-9) [***k***](#cite_ref-PG_2-10) ["Mason family of Virginia"](http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/10001-020.html). *The Political Graveyard*. June 16, 2008. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20130404073816/http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/10001-020.html) from the original on April 4, 2013. Retrieved March 7, 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Young, 1998.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** 1830 U.S. Federal Census for Western District, Frederick County, Virginia, p. 101 of 116

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** 1850 U.S. Federal Census for District 16, Frederick County, Virginia, Slave Schedule p. 16 of 28

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** 1850 U.S. Federal Census for Rappahannock County, Virginia, Slave Schedule p. 6 of 47.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** 1860 U.S. Federal Census for District 4, Frederick County, Virginia, Slave Schedule p. 4 of 4

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** 1860 U.S. Federal Census for Southern Division, Culpeper County, Virginia, Slave Schedule p. 3 of 38

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Cynthia Miller Leonard, *The Virginia General Assembly 1619–1978* (Virginia State Library, Richmond 1978) pp. 334, 344, 349, 353, 355

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Leonard, p. xxvi

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** [James M. McPherson](/source/James_M._McPherson), *[Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era](/source/Battle_Cry_of_Freedom%3A_The_Civil_War_Era)* (New York: Bantam Books, 1989), pg. 79.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Young_12-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Young_12-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Young_12-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Young_12-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Young_12-4) [Young, Robert W.](/source/Robert_W._Young) (1998). *James Murray Mason: defender of the old South*. Knoxville, TN: [University of Tennessee Press](/source/University_of_Tennessee_Press). p. 46. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780870499982](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780870499982).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Thomas_13-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Thomas_13-1) [Thomas III, William G.](/source/William_G._Thomas_III) (July 15, 2009). ["Sen. James Murday Mason, black labor, and the aftermath of the Civil War"](http://railroads.unl.edu/blog/?p=57). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20201025085444/http://railroads.unl.edu/blog/?p=57) from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Gawalt_14-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Gawalt_14-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Gawalt_14-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Gawalt_14-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Gawalt_14-4) Gawalt, Gerard W (2015). *Clashing dynasties : Charles Francis Adams and James Murray Mason in the fiery cauldron of civil war*. [North Charleston, South Carolina](/source/North_Charleston%2C_South_Carolina): [CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform](/source/CreateSpace_Independent_Publishing_Platform). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1519347916](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1519347916).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** [*Property in Territories. Speech of Hon. J.M. Mason, of Virginia, delivered in the Senate of the United States, May 18, 1860*](https://archive.org/details/propertyinterrit00maso/page/n3/mode/2up?q=Slavery). The quote on p. 14. [Washington] Printed by L. Towers. 1860.{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: others ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_others))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Mason, James M.; [Collamer, Jacob](/source/Jacob_Collamer) (June 15, 1860). [*Report \[of\] the Select committee of the Senate appointed to inquire into the late invasion and seizure of the public property at Harper's Ferry*](https://archive.org/details/reportselectcommi00unit/page/n1/mode/2up).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Public_17-0)** Mason, Virginia (1906). [*The public life and diplomatic correspondence of James M. Mason, with some personal history*](https://archive.org/details/publifediplomatic00masorich/page/n5/mode/2up). New York and Washington: Neale Publishing Company. p. 191.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Brockell, Gillian (January 5, 2021). ["The senators who were expelled after refusing to accept Lincoln's election"](https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/01/05/senators-expelled-lincoln-election-trump/). *[Washington Post](/source/Washington_Post)*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210107135812/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/01/05/senators-expelled-lincoln-election-trump/) from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Leonard, pg. xxix

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** [*Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862*](https://archive.org/stream/1862appletonsan02newyuoft#page/n200/mode/1up). New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863. p. 193.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** Phipps, Sheila R. (2003). [*Genteel Rebel: The Life of Mary Greenhow Lee*](http://muse.jhu.edu/book/65995). [Louisiana State University Press](/source/Louisiana_State_University_Press). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0807128856](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0807128856). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210604000130/https://muse.jhu.edu/book/65995) from the original on June 4, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2021 – via [Project MUSE](/source/Project_MUSE).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** [Beakes, George M.](/source/George_M._Beakes) (March 25, 1863). ["Letter from an army surgeon"](https://newspaperarchive.com/military-clipping-mar-25-1863-2012096/). *[Middletown Whig Press](/source/Times_Herald-Record) ([Middletown, Orange County, New York](/source/Middletown%2C_Orange_County%2C_New_York))*. p. 1. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210604000531/https://newspaperarchive.com/military-clipping-mar-25-1863-2012096/) from the original on June 4, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2020 – via [newspaperarchive.com](/source/Newspaperarchive.com).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** [Schurz, Carl](/source/Carl_Schurz) (1909). ["First Years in America—Visit to Washington"](https://archive.org/details/reminisccarlschurz02schurich/page/36/mode/2up). *The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz*. Vol. 2. London: [John Murray](/source/John_Murray_(publishing_house)). pp. 35–36.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** [Sumner, Charles](/source/Charles_Sumner) (1856). ["The crime against Kansas. The apolgies for the crime. The true remedy"](https://archive.org/details/crimeagainstkan01sumngoog/page/n94/mode/2up). *Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, in the Senate of the United States 19th and 20th May, 1856*. Boston: [John P. Jewett & Company](/source/John_P._Jewett). pp. 88–89.

**Further reading**

- Gewalt, Gerard W. (2015). *Clashing Dynasties Charles Francis Adams and James Murray Mason in the Fiery Cauldron of the Civil War*. [North Charleston, South Carolina](/source/North_Charleston%2C_South_Carolina): CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781519347916](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781519347916).

- Owsley, Frank Lawrence. *King Cotton Diplomacy, Foreign Relations of the Confederate States of America* (University of Chicago Press. Chicago, 1931).

- Young, Robert W. (1998). *Senator James Murray Mason : defender of the old South*. [University of Tennessee Press](/source/University_of_Tennessee_Press). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [087049998X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/087049998X).

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [James Murray Mason](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:James_Murray_Mason).

- ["Mason, James Murray"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Mason,_James_Murray). *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition)* (11th ed.). 1911.

- ["Mason, James Murray"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Student%27s_Reference_Work/Mason,_James_Murray). [*The New Student's Reference Work*](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Student%27s_Reference_Work). 1914.

U.S. House of Representatives Preceded by Edward Lucas Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 15th congressional district 1837–1839 Succeeded by William Lucas U.S. Senate Preceded by Isaac S. Pennybacker U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Virginia 1847–1861 Served alongside: William S. Archer, Robert Hunter Succeeded by Waitman T. Willey Chair of the Senate Claims Committee 1847–1849 Succeeded by Moses Norris Jr. Preceded by Herschel Johnson Chair of the Senate District of Columbia Committee 1849–1851 Succeeded by James Shields Preceded by David Levy Yulee Chair of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee 1851–1852 Succeeded by William M. Gwin Preceded by Henry S. Foote Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 1852–1861 Succeeded by Charles Sumner Political offices Preceded by Jesse D. Bright President pro tempore of the United States Senate 1857 Succeeded by Thomas Rusk

v t e United States senators from Virginia Class 1 Grayson Walker Monroe S. Mason Taylor Venable Giles Moore Brent J. Barbour Randolph Tyler Rives Pennybacker J. Mason Willey Bowden Lewis Withers Mahone Daniel Swanson Byrd Sr. Byrd Jr. Trible Robb Allen Webb Kaine Class 2 Lee Taylor H. Tazewell Nicholas Moore Giles A. Mason Eppes Pleasants Taylor L. Tazewell Rives Leigh Parker Roane Archer Hunter Carlile Johnston Riddleberger J. S. Barbour Hunton Martin Glass Burch Robertson Spong Scott J. Warner M. Warner

v t e Chairs of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Barbour Macon Brown Barbour R. King Barbour Macon Sanford Macon Tazewell Forsyth Wilkins Clay Buchanan Rives Archer Allen Sevier Hannegan Benton W. King Foote Mason Sumner Cameron Hamlin Eaton Burnside Edmunds Windom Miller Sherman Morgan Sherman Frye Davis Cullom Bacon Stone Hitchcock Lodge Borah Pittman George Connally Vandenberg Connally Wiley George Green Fulbright Sparkman Church Percy Lugar Pell Helms Biden Helms Biden Lugar Biden Kerry Menendez Corker Risch Menendez Cardin Risch

v t e Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate ▌ Langdon (1789) ▌ Lee (1792) ▌ Langdon (1792–1793) ▌ Izard (1794) ▌ H. Tazewell (1795) ▌ Livermore (1796) ▌ Bingham (1797) ▌ Bradford (1979) ▌ Read (1797) ▌ Sedgwick (1798) ▌ Laurance (1798) ▌ Ross (1799) ▌ Livermore (1799) ▌ Tracy (1800) ▌ Howard (1800) ▌ Hillhouse (1801) ▌ Baldwin (1801–1802) ▌ Bradley (1802–1803) ▌ Brown (1803–1804) ▌ Franklin (1804) ▌ Anderson (1805) ▌ Smith (1805–1808) ▌ Bradley (1808–1809) ▌ Milledge (1809) ▌ Gregg (1809) ▌ Gaillard (1810) ▌ Pope (1811) ▌ Crawford (1812–1813) ▌ Varnum (1813–1814) ▌ Gaillard (1814–1819) ▌ Barbour (1819) ▌ Gaillard (1820–1825) ▌ Macon (1826–1827) ▌ Smith (1828–1831) ▌ L. Tazewell (1832) ▌ White (1832–1833) ▌ Poindexter (1834) ▌ Tyler (1835) ▌ W. R. King (1836–1841) ▌ Southard (1841–1842) ▌ Mangum (1842–1845) ▌ Sevier (1845) ▌ Atchison (1846–1849) ▌ W. R. King (1850–1852) ▌ Atchison (1852–1854) ▌ Cass (1854) ▌ Bright (1854–1856) ▌ Stuart (1856) ▌ Bright (1856–1857) ▌ Mason (1857) ▌ Rusk (1857) ▌ Fitzpatrick (1857–1860) ▌ Bright (1860) ▌ Fitzpatrick (1860) ▌ Foot (1861–1864) ▌ Clark (1864–1865) ▌ Foster (1865–1867) ▌ Wade (1867–1869) ▌ Anthony (1869–1873) ▌ Carpenter (1873–1875) ▌ Anthony (1875) ▌ Ferry (1875–1879) ▌ Thurman (1879–1880) ▌ Bayard (1881) ▌ Davis (1881–1883) ▌ Edmunds (1883–1885) ▌ Sherman (1885–1887) ▌ Ingalls (1887–1891) ▌ Manderson (1891–1893) ▌ Harris (1893–1895) ▌ Ransom (1895) ▌ Harris (1895) ▌ Frye (1896–1911) ▌ Bacon/ ▌ Curtis/ ▌ Gallinger/ ▌ Brandegee/ ▌ Lodge (1911–1913) ▌ Clarke (1913–1916) ▌ Saulsbury (1916–1919) ▌ Cummins (1919–1925) ▌ Moses (1925–1933) ▌ Pittman (1933–1940) ▌ W. H. King (1940–1941) ▌ Harrison (1941) ▌ Glass (1941–1945) ▌ McKellar (1945–1947) ▌ Vandenberg (1947–1949) ▌ McKellar (1949–1953) ▌ Bridges (1953–1955) ▌ George (1955–1957) ▌ Hayden (1957–1969) ▌ Metcalf (1963–1969, acting) ▌ Russell (1969–1971) ▌ Ellender (1971–1972) ▌ Eastland (1972–1978) ▌ Magnuson (1979–1980) ▌ Young (1980) ▌ Magnuson (1980–1981) ▌ Thurmond (1981–1987) ▌ Stennis (1987–1989) ▌ Byrd (1989–1995) ▌ Thurmond (1995–2001) ▌ Byrd (2001) ▌ Thurmond (2001) ▌ Byrd (2001–2003) ▌ Stevens (2003–2007) ▌ Byrd (2007–2010) ▌ Inouye (2010–2012) ▌ Leahy (2012–2015) ▌ Hatch (2015–2019) ▌ Grassley (2019–2021) ▌ Leahy (2021–2023) ▌ Murray (2023–2025) ▌ Grassley (2025–present) ▌ Pro-Administration ▌ Anti-Administration ▌ Federalist ▌ Democratic-Republican ▌ Jacksonian ▌ National Republican ▌ Whig ▌ Democratic ▌ Republican ▌ Independent Category Commons List

v t e United States representatives from Virginia's 15th congressional district Madison Dawson Randolph Kerr Clay Kerr Lewis Tucker Barbour E. Lucas Mason W. Lucas Barton Steenrod Brown Newman Haymond Thompson Clemens (inactive 1853–present) All Virginia districts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · at-large

v t e The Mason family First generation George Mason I Second generation George Mason II Third generation George Mason III Fourth generation George Mason IV Thomson Mason (1733–1785) Fifth generation George Mason V William Mason Thomson Mason (1759–1820) Stevens Thomson Mason (1760–1803) John Thomson Mason (1765–1824) John Mason Thomas Mason William Temple Thomson Mason Sixth generation Thomson Francis Mason John Thomson Mason (1787–1850) Armistead Thomson Mason Richard Chichester Mason Richard Barnes Mason James M. Mason John Thomson Mason (1815–1873) Seventh generation Stevens Thomson Mason (1811–1843) Emily Virginia Mason Beverley Randolph Mason Arthur Pendleton Mason John Stevens Mason Alexander Macomb Mason William Pinckney Mason Eighth generation Kate Mason Rowland Richard Nelson Mason Lucy Randolph Mason Mason family residences Accokeek Analostan Island Araby Chestnut Hill Chopawamsic Clarens Clermont Colross Gunston Hall Hollin Hall Huntley Lexington Locust Hill Mattawoman Montpelier Okeley Manor Raspberry Plain Selma Stafford Hall Temple Hall Woodbridge

v t e History of slavery in Virginia Slavery in the colonial history of the United States History of Virginia Enslaved people Angela (fl. 1619–1625) Henry Box Brown (c. 1815–1897) Anthony Burns (1834–1862) John Casor (living 1655) Margaret Cornish (fl. 1610s–1670) Emanuel Driggus (c. 1620s–d. 1685) Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797) Isabella Gibbons (c. 1836–1890) William D. Gibbons (1825–1886) John Graweere (living 1641) Elizabeth Key Grinstead (Greenstead) (1630–1665) Left, husband of Jane Webb (fl. 1704–1727) Mary and Anthony Johnson (1600–1670) Philip Lee (c. 1785–?) Dangerfield Newby (c. 1820–1859) John Punch (fl. 1630s, living 1640) Gabriel Prosser (1776–1800) William Tucker (born 1624) Nat Turner (1800–1831) Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) Slave owners Presidents of the United States Washington Jefferson Madison Monroe Tyler John Armfield (1797–1871) Carter Braxton (1736–1797) Landon Carter (1710–1778) Robert "King" Carter (1663–1732) Robert Carter III (1728–1804) Thomas Roderick Dew (1802–1846) Andrew Hunter (1804–1888) Robert M. T. Hunter (1809–1887) Eppa Hunton (1822–1908) Richard Bland Lee (1761–1827) William Mahone (1826–1895) George Mason (1725–1792) James M. Mason (1798–1871) John Page (1628–1692) Thomas Prosser (died 1798) Randolph family of Virginia William Barton Rogers (1804–1882) George Henry Thomas (1816–1870) William Tucker (died 1642) John Wayles (1715–1773) Henry A. Wise (1806–1876) Seth Woodroof (1805–1875) Plantations Beall-Air Berry Hill Brookfield Kenmore Monticello Montpelier Mount Airy Mount Vernon (enslaved people) Oatlands Poplar Forest Shirley Stratford Hall Tuckahoe Westover Woodlawn List of plantations in Virginia Slave pens Bruin's Slave Jail The Cage Franklin and Armfield Office Lumpkin's Jail Other sites African American Burial Ground Bremo Slave Chapel Memorial to Enslaved Laborers White House of the Confederacy Legal history Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 Virginia v. John Brown Revolts Gabriel's Rebellion Nat Turner's Rebellion John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry Related articles The 1619 Project Atlantic Creole Coastwise slave trade First Africans in Virginia Indentured servitude in Virginia District of Columbia retrocession Great Dismal Swamp maroons Human trafficking in Virginia Liberation and Freedom Day Richmond slave market Virginia in the American Civil War Winchester Medical College

v t e John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry John Brown's raiders Osborne Perry Anderson John Brown body Oliver Brown Owen Brown (son) Watson Brown John Anthony Copeland Jr. Barclay Coppock Edwin Coppock Shields Green Albert Hazlett John Henry Kagi Lewis Sheridan Leary Francis Jackson Meriam Dangerfield Newby Aaron Dwight Stevens Secret Six Thomas Wentworth Higginson Samuel Gridley Howe Theodore Parker Franklin Benjamin Sanborn Gerrit Smith George Luther Stearns Other individuals John Wilkes Booth Mary Ann Day Brown (wife) Owen Brown (father) John Brown, Jr. James Buchanan Samuel Chilton John E.P. Daingerfield Israel Greene George Henry Hoyt Andrew Hunter Stonewall Jackson Robert E. Lee James M. Mason Richard Parker Wendell Phillips Richard Realf James Redpath George Sennott Heyward Shepherd Lysander Spooner George H. Steuart J. E. B. Stuart Lewis Washington Walt Whitman Henry A. Wise Locations Allstadt House and Ordinary B & O Railroad Potomac River Crossing Beall-Air Charles Town, West Virginia Gibson-Todd House Harpers Ferry Armory Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Historic District John Brown's Fort Kennedy Farmhouse Sandy Hook, Maryland Winchester, Virginia Afterwards Battle Hymn of the Republic Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Heyward Shepherd monument John Brown (biography) John Brown Farm State Historic Site John Brown Farm, Tannery & Museum John Brown House (Akron, Ohio) John Brown Museum (Osawatomie, Kansas) John Brown's body John Brown's Body (poem) John Brown's Body (song) John Brown's last speech John Brown's Provisional Constitution "The Last Days of John Brown" The Last Moments of John Brown "A Plea for Captain John Brown" "Remarks After the Hanging of John Brown" Tragic Prelude Virginia v. John Brown Related Abolitionism in the United States La Amistad Battle of Black Jack Battle of the Spurs James Madison Bell Bleeding Kansas Cloudsplitter John Brown's War Against Slavery John Stuart Curry George DeBaptiste Frederick Douglass Ralph Waldo Emerson Fire on the Mountain William Lloyd Garrison The Good Lord Bird (book, miniseries) Haitian Revolution Victor Hugo Elijah P. Lovejoy Marching Song (play) James Montgomery Origins of the American Civil War Battle of Osawatomie Quindaro Townsite Allan Pinkerton Pottawatomie massacre Santa Fe Trail (film) Seven Angry Men John Brown's Raid (TV play) Storer College Henry David Thoreau To Purge This Land with Blood Harriet Tubman Nat Turner Denmark Vesey Wakarusa War Walt Whitman Winchester and Potomac Railroad Winchester Medical College

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [James M. Mason](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Mason) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Mason?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.