Talk:James Nesmith

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Democratic Senators that voted for the 13th amendment

Based on https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/38-1/s134#details there were 3 Democratic Senators that voted in favor of the 13th amendment to the constitution, yet the 13th amendment's article and Senator James Nesmith's article (this one) claim that only 2 Democratic Senators, James Nesmith and Reverdy Johnson, voted in favor of the 13th amendment's passage.

The missing Senator in question is Benjamin F Harding. His page, alongside Reverdy Johnson's, has no mention of their votes in favor of the amendment.

I was planning on correcting both claims in the two articles alongside adding the claim to the pages of the 2 other Senators. The claim on the 13th amendment is not sourced, but the page is semi-protected and I didn't want to step on any toes editing something there. So I figured I'd change it on the 3 men's pages, and whenever I became more comfortable with wikipedia, I'd try adding it to the protected article.

However, on this page the claim is sourced twice in two different books. I have been able to read the first source online, and the claim is dubious at best. The page they cite has no mention of either James Nesmith's vote or Reverdy Johnson's vote. It mentions Reverdy Johnson's support of an amendment like the 13th and the previous pages spoke of other prominent Democrats that supported such an amendment, yet no mention of the actual voting. Reading past the page they cite will require I get access to the book. I plan on doing so if I can find it at my local library.

I have not been able to view the page of the second source, if my local library has it I'll try and read it. Though if it's as dubious as the first citation I doubt it has the facts to back up the article's claim.

I was planning on adding my note to Reverdy Johnson's and Benjamin F. Harding's pages and leaving this page and the 13th amendment alone, but thought it'd be strange to have these claims hyperlinked to James Nesmith's and the 13th Amendment's pages with contradictory statements. After seeking help, I was recommended to start a talk discussion on the pages I'm trying to contradict to try and reach a consensus before adding information on 2 articles that would contradict 2 other articles. This is one of the pages, the other being the 13th amendment's talk discussion. Jinandwin (talk) 13:32, 25 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

On the 13th amendment's talk page, another user pointed out to me that govtrack uses voteview as their source, something I somehow missed. Voteview is a secondary source that uses "Congresional (sic) Globe vol. 65, p. 1490; Senate Journal vol. 56, p. 313" as their source for the vote. https://voteview.com/rollcall/RS0380134

Voteview doesn't list Reverdy Johnson as a Democratic Senator, it lists him as a Unionist. Based on what I've read, Reverdy Johnson probably was a Unionist at the time of the vote.

I'll go ahead and edit Benjamin F Harding's page and Reverdy Johnson's page and James Nesmith's page (this one) since my source is a secondary source, which wikipedia prefers, and the current source on this page is dubious at best. Jinandwin (talk) 01:27, 6 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]