James Murray Mason

For his brother, see Murray Mason.

James Murray Mason
United States Senator from Virginia
In office January 21, 1847 – March 28, 1861
Preceded by	Isaac S. Pennybacker
Succeeded by	Waitman T. Willey
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In office January 6, 1857 – March 4, 1857
Preceded by	Jesse D. Bright
Succeeded by	Thomas J. Rusk
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
Personal details
Born	(1798-11-03)November 3, 1798 Analostan Island, D.C., U.S.
Died	Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Eliza Margaretta Chew
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania, College of William and Mary (law)
Profession	Politician, Lawyer

James Murray Mason (November 3, 1798 – April 28, 1871) was a United States Representative and United States Senator from Virginia. He was a grandson of George Mason and represented the Confederate States of America as appointed commissioner of the Confederacy to the United Kingdom and France between 1861 and 1865 during the American Civil War. In November 1861, Mason was among those captured by Federal troops during the Trent Affair in November 1861 while on a mission to England.

Early life and education

He was born on Analostan Island (now Theodore Roosevelt Island) in the District of Columbia, and was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (1818), receiving a law degree from the College of William and Mary in 1820.

Political career

He practiced law in Virginia and was a delegate to the Virginia constitutional convention in 1829, and a member of the State house of delegates. He was elected to the Twenty-fifth United States Congress in 1836 as a Jackson Democrat.

In 1847, he was elected to the Senate after the death of Isaac S. Pennybacker, and was reelected in 1850 and 1856. Mason famously read aloud the dying Senator John C. Calhoun's final speech to the Senate, on March 4, 1850, which warned of disunion and dire consequences if the North did not guarantee the South permanently equal representation in Congress. Complaining of personal liberty laws that "Although the loss of property is felt, the loss of honor is felt still more," Mason also drafted the (second) Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, enacted on September 18, 1850 as a part of the Compromise Measures of that year. Mason represented the majority view in leading the Senate committee which investigated the John Brown raid on Harper's Ferry of October 1859. (Thus the document published as the U.S. Congress, Senate Select Commission on the Harper's Ferry Invasion (June 15, 1860) is often referred to as the Mason Report.) Mason was President pro tempore of the Senate during the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Congresses but was expelled from the Senate in 1861 for support of the Confederacy.

While traveling to his post as Confederate envoy to Britain and France, on the British mail steamer RMS Trent, the ship was stopped by USS San Jacinto on November 8, 1861. Mason and John Slidell were confined in Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, precipitating the Trent Affair that threatened to bring Britain into open war with the United States of America.

The Northern public erupted with a huge display of triumphalism at this dramatic capture, and even the cool-headed Lincoln was swept along in the celebratory spirit. But when he and his cabinet studied the likely consequences of a war with Britain, their enthusiasm waned. After some careful diplomatic exchanges, they admitted that the capture had been conducted 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 on January 1, 1862. Mason represented the Confederacy there until April 1865. One of his first acts in London was to raise the issue of Union blockades.

Until 1868 he lived in Canada, and then returned to the Clarens Estate near Alexandria, Virginia. He died at Clarens on 28 April 1871, age 72. and was interred in the churchyard of Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia.

James M. Mason, photograph by Mathew Brady

Marriage and children

Mason married Eliza Margaretta Chew (1798–1874) on 25 July 1822 at Cliveden in Germantown, Pennsylvania. The couple had eight children:

• Anna Maria Mason Ambler (31 January 1825 – 17 August 1863)
• Benjamin Chew Mason (1826–1847)
• Catharine Chew Mason Dorsey (24 March 1828 – 28 April 1893)
• George Mason (16 April 1830 – 3 February 1895)
• Virginia Mason (12 December 1833 – 11 October 1920)
• Eliza Ida Oswald Mason (10 August 1836 – 16 December 1885)
• James Murray Mason, Jr. (24 August 1839 – 10 January 1923)
• John A. Mason (17 November 1841 – 6 June 1925)

Relations

James Murray Mason was a grandson of George Mason (1725–1792); nephew of George Mason V (1753–1796); grandnephew of Thomson Mason (1733–1785); first cousin once removed of Stevens Thomson Mason (1760–1803) and John Thomson Mason (1765–1824); son of John Mason (1766–1849) and Anna Maria Murray Mason (1776–1857); first cousin of Thomson Francis Mason (1785–1838), George Mason VI (1786–1834), and Richard Barnes Mason (1797–1850); second cousin of Armistead Thomson Mason (1787–1819), John Thomson Mason (1787–1850), and John Thomson Mason, Jr. (1815–1873); second cousin once removed of Stevens Thomson Mason (1811–1843); and first cousin thrice removed of Charles O'Conor Goolrick.

• Sister Sarah Maria was the wife of Confederate general Adjutant Samuel Cooper (general).
• Sister Anna Maria was the wife of Sidney Smith Lee-son of Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee; they were the parents of Confederate Major General and Virginia Governor Fitzhugh Lee.
• Brother John T. married Catherine Macomb daughter of Gen. Alexander Macomb, Jr., Commanding General of the army (1828–1841).

Ancestry

Family of James Murray 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

External links

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United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Edward Lucas	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 15th congressional district March 4, 1837 – March 4, 1839	Succeeded by William Lucas
United States Senate
Preceded by Isaac S. Pennybacker	U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Virginia January 21, 1847 – March 28, 1861 Served alongside: William S. Archer and Robert M. T. Hunter	Succeeded by Waitman T. Willey
Political offices
Preceded by Jesse D. Bright	President pro tempore of the United States Senate January 6, 1857 – March 4, 1857	Succeeded by Thomas J. Rusk