![]() Ashley became editor of the Portsmouth, Ohio, Democrat newspaper in 1848, and a lawyer a year later. It was here that he first encountered the horrors of slavery that would inspire his later efforts to abolish it. Canaday Center for Special Collections.Īs a young boy, Ashley ran away from home and got a job working on the steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. What remains of Ashley’s personal papers are preserved in UT’s Ward M. What viewers may not know is that Congressman Ashley, who not only introduced the amendment for the vote but helped to write it, was the congressional representative from Toledo. When the amendment is finally passed by three votes, the emotional outpouring of both those in favor and against is historical drama at its best. As each congressman registers his aye or nay, the House and the gallery anxiously keep count to see if the amendment will get the two-thirds vote needed for passage. In one of the most spellbinding scenes of the movie, Ashley introduces the amendment for its vote before the House. Viewers of the movie likely will leave remembering James Ashley (portrayed by actor David Costabile), who plays a key role in helping to get the amendment approved Jan. Canaday Center for Special Collections holds the personal papers of James Ashley, the congressional representative from Toledo who drafted the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery.The surprising plot of the movie concerns the legislative struggle to get the House of Representatives to pass the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the amendment that would outlaw slavery forever. ![]()
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