Lot 810: JAMES SHARPLES, CIRCA 1795

Portrait of Fisher Ames
The paper back bearing label From/JAMES S. EARLE & SON'S/Looking Glass & Picture Frame/MANUFACTORY/816 Chestnut St. AB. Eighth/PHILADELPHIA, above a smaller hand-written label inscribed Fisher Ames of Massachusetts/Done by Sharpless; above a graphite inscription H.C. Baird
pastel on paper
9 1/3 x 7 1/8 in (sight)

Fisher Ames was born in Dedham, the son of Nathaniel Ames and Deborah (Fisher) Ames; he married Frances Worthington (1764-?) in 1792. Ames was a leading New England Federalist and sublime critic of Jacobin Democracy and the French Revolution. During the presidency of George Washington, he was the leader of his party in the House of Representatives. Ames was active in public life from 1787 through 1807 and was instrumental in one drafting of the First Amendment to the Constitution. His witty, often brilliant, letters, speeches, and essays offered a sustained defense of conservative principles and insight into the Federalist theory of government.