Early life
He was born on May 3, 1833 at Zion Settlement, near Columbia, Tennessee in Maury County, Tennessee, Maury County. He attended Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, studied law, was admitted to the bar association, bar, and commenced practice in Columbia. He started a leather manufacturing business in 1859. He owned slaves. During the American Civil War, Civil War, he supported the Union (American Civil War), Union actively, suffering injury, threats to his life, and property damage from Confederate States of America, 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 Constitution, Tennessee state constitutional convention in 1865. He served in the Tennessee 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; 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 United States Congress, Thirty-ninth Congress. He was re-elected as a Republican Party (United States), Republican to the Fortieth United States Congress, Fortieth and Forty-first United States Congress, 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 United States House Committee on Expenditures in the State Department, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State. He was chairman of the United States House Committee on Education and Labor during the Forty-first Congress. He also was a Delegate (American politics), delegate to the Republican National Convention 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 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, Tennessee, Washington County. He was burial, interred in Monte Visa Cemetery.References
*''This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress''.''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