James A. Garfield - Congressman Garfield handles the "Oakes Ames matter"—a reference to the Credit Mobilier Scandal

Congressman Garfield handles the "Oakes Ames matter"—a reference to the Credit Mobilier Scandal LS signed “J. A. Garfield,” two pages on two adjoining sheets, 7.5 x 9.75, Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives letterhead, March 21, 1873. Letter to the Hon. John Peter Robison, in part: "I have been nearly sick since I reached here—and our little one has been very sick—but we are all getting better now—I have not drawn the extra pay noted in the salary bill and don't know that I shall do so; but I don't propose to be driven by the clamor, which the General Assembly & the press are raising on the subject. I wish you would send me a paper occasionally—when anything new appears on the subject—The more I think of it, the more important it seems that I should have a statement from you in reference our conversation in 1868 about the Oakes Ames matter I wish you would write me a letter stating any remembrance of it. Please do so as soon as you can, for I must soon publish what I am to say on the subject." Includes its original mailing envelope, franked in the upper right by Garfield, "J. A. Garfield, MC." In fine condition, with heavy intersecting folds; the accompanying free franked envelope is in very good condition, with soiling, creasing, and opening-related paper loss.

In discussing the "Oakes Ames matter" at the close of the letter, Garfield references the famed 'Credit Mobilier Scandal'—the greatest political storm of the Gilded Age. In 1867, during the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, Congressman Oakes Ames had distributed cash bribes and discounted shares of Credit Mobilier stock to other congressmen in exchange for votes and actions favorable to the Union Pacific Railroad. When this corruption was revealed to the public in 1872, Garfield was among the politicians implicated in accepting stock. Although he was never exactly exonerated from the claims, and Democrats attacked him with talk of the scandal during his run for president in 1880, the Credit Mobilier crisis ultimately had little effect on Garfield's political career.

James Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 1881 until his assassination in September 1881. A lawyer and Civil War general, Garfield served nine terms in the United States House of Representatives and is, to date, the only sitting member of the House to be elected president. Before his candidacy for the White House, he had been elected to the U.S. Senate by the Ohio General Assembly—a position he declined when he became president-elect.

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