Fisher Ames (/eɪmz/; April 9, 1758 – July 4, 1808) was a Representative in the United States Congress from the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts.

[2] Nathaniel "enjoyed his role as country doctor, servant of the proletariat, and champion of the common man.

James Madison wrote to Thomas Jefferson in 1794 that "Ames is said to owe his success to the votes of negroes and British sailors smuggled under a very lax mode of conducting the election there.

[11] Ames offered one of the first great speeches in American Congressional history when he spoke in favor of the Jay Treaty.

For example, in 1789 Ames argued against the appointment of Thomas Willing as the President of Hamilton's newly created Bank of the United States.

[13] In 1794, the people of Charleston, South Carolina burned him in effigy alongside William Pitt, Benedict Arnold, and the Devil for his pro-British positions.

Hamilton's Federalists (of which Ames was one), although they too agreed with a Republic, advocated a stronger federal government with similar powers to the British example.

Ames felt Federalism around a clear and firm constitution was the model the United States should follow to prevent the fledgling nation from failing.

Its nature ordains that its next change should be into a military despotism....The reason is that the tyranny of what is called the people, and that by the sword, both operate alike to debase and corrupt, til there are neither men left with the spirit to desire liberty, nor morals with the power to sustain justice.

[18][b] Upon returning, he was alarmed by the growing number of Republicans in town, led by his brother Nathaniel,[18] who lived next door.

[18][22] The attendees wrote a complimentary letter to President John Adams, pledging their support should the new nation go to war with France.

"[18] Nathaniel Ames wrote in his diary that his brother had convinced "a few deluded people" into signing the letter by "squeezing teazing greazing" them with food and drink.

[18] Members of the Federalist elite continued to visit him at his Dedham home, including Alexander Hamilton on June 24, 1800.

"[22] A laborer rose to speak after him and said "Mr. Moderator, my brother Ames' eloquence reminds me of nothing but the shining of a firefly, which gives just enough light to show its own insignificance.

[20] Nathaniel believed Cabot's intentions were to embarrass the Town of Dedham for its Republican political views[27] and did not attend.

Despite his limited number of years in public service, Fisher Ames ranks as one of the more influential figures of his era.

"[30] Ames got his start in politics by writing essays in the local press under the pen names of Camillus and Lucius Junius Brutus.