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.

Simmons was again elected to the United States Senate in 1856 as a Republican[1] and served from March 4, 1857, through the first year of the American Civil War.

On July 12, 1862, Senator Joseph A. Wright of Indiana submitted a resolution calling for Simmons's expulsion.

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.

[1] On July 14, the Senate Judiciary Committee issued a report stating that it found Simmons' conduct "entirely inexcusable" but that charging Simmons would be an ex post facto violation of his rights, in that his conduct had occurred before the law prohibiting it was passed.