James F. Simmons
| James Fowler Simmons | |
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United States Senator from Rhode Island |
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In office March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1847 March 4, 1857 – September 5, 1862 |
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| Preceded by |
Nehemiah R. Knight Charles T. James |
| Succeeded by |
John H. Clarke Samuel G. Arnold |
| Member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives | |
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In office 1828–1841 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 10, 1795 Little Compton, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Died | July 10, 1864 (aged 68) Johnston, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Political party | Whig, Republican |
| Profession | Politician, Manufacturer |
James Fowler Simmons (September 10, 1795 – July 10, 1864) was a businessman and politician from Rhode Island who twice served as a United States Senator, first as a Whig and then as a Republican. He is notable for having the Senate consider expelling him for corruption during his second term as a Senator.
Born on a farm near Little Compton, he attended a private school in Newport and moved to Providence in 1812. He was employed in various manufacturing concerns in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and engaged in the manufacture of yarn at Simmonsville (now Thornton), New Hampshire in 1822.
He moved to Johnston, Rhode Island in 1827 and resumed the manufacture of yarns and engaged in agricultural pursuits; he was a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1828 to 1841.
Simmons was elected as a Whig to the U.S. Senate and served from March 4, 1841, to March 3, 1847.
While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Manufactures (Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Congresses) and a member of the Committee on Printing (Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Congresses).
After running unsuccessfully for reelection in 1846, Simmons returned to Johnston and resumed his former pursuits. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Senate in 1850.
Simmons was again elected to the United States Senate in 1856 as a Republican and served from March 4, 1857, through the first year of the American Civil War. He was chairman of the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office during the Thirty-seventh Congress.
On July 12, 1862, Senator Joseph A. Wright submitted a resolution calling for Simmons's explusion. Wright stated that Secretary of War Edwin Stanton accused Simmons of securing a contract for two Rhode Island rifle manufacturers in exchange for a fee of $20,000 in promissory notes.
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