Samuel M. Arnell as an American politician that represented the 6th congressional district of Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives. He was born on May 3, 1833 at Zion Settlement, near Columbia, Tennessee in Maury County. He attended Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Columbia. He was a member of the Tennessee state consitutional convention in 1865. He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1865 and 1866. Upon the readmission of Tennessee to representation, he was elected as an Unconditional Unionist to the Thirty-ninth Congress. He was re-elected as a Republican to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses. He served from July 24, 1866 to March 3, 1871, but he was not a candidate for renomination in 1870. During the Forty-first Congress, he was the chairman of the ommittee on Expenditures in the Department of State. He was chairman of the United States House Committee on Education and Labor during the Forty-first Congress.
He resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C., then later returned to Columbia, Tennessee. He was the postmaster of Columbia from 1879 to 1884. He was the superintendant of schools from 1884 to 1886. He died on July 20, 1903 in Johnson City, Tennessee in Washington County. He was interred in Monte Visa Cemetery.
This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
