Samuel Mayes Arnell (May 3, 1833 – July 20, 1903) was an American lawyer and politician who represented the 6th congressional district of Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives. He was a staunch Unionist and served as a Republican. He had owned slaves. He later served as school superintendent and postmaster. He wrote a memoir.

Early life

He was born on May 3, 1833 at Zion Settlement, near Columbia, Tennessee in

Maury County Maury County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee, in the Middle Tennessee region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 100,974. Its county seat is Columbia. Maury County is part of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro ...

. He attended

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...

, studied law, was admitted to the

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, and commenced practice in Columbia. He started a leather manufacturing business in 1859. He owned slaves. During the Civil War, he supported the Union actively, suffering injury, threats to his life, and property damage from Confederate forces.Samuel Mayes Arnell Collection, MS-0823. University of Tennessee Libraries, Knoxville, Special Collections.

Political offices

He was a member of the Tennessee state constitutional convention in 1865. He served in the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

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; 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. Upon the readmission of Tennessee to representation, he was elected as an Unconditional Unionist to the Thirty-ninth Congress. He was re-elected as a Republican to the Fortieth and Forty-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 the

Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the ...

. He was chairman of the United States House Committee on Education and Labor during the Forty-first Congress. He also was a delegate to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

from Tennessee in 1868.

Private citizen

He resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C., then later returned to Columbia, Tennessee. He was the

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of Columbia from 1879 to 1885. He was the superintendent of public schools from 1885 to 1888. 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.’" He died on July 20, 1903 in Johnson City, Tennessee in Washington County. He was interred in Monte Visa Cemetery.

References

*''This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain ''

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress The ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress'' (Bioguide) is a biographical dictionary of all present and former members of the United States Congress and its predecessor, the Continental Congress. Also included are Delegates from ...

''.''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arnell, Samuel Mayes 1833 births 1903 deaths People from Maury County, Tennessee Unconditional Union Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee Republican Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Tennessee lawyers American slave owners People from Columbia, Tennessee Amherst College alumni Southern Unionists in the American Civil War