Born in Trenton, New Jersey, he was tutored privately in Flushing, Queens, and graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1838. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1841 and commenced practice in Trenton. Served as commissioner in bankruptcy.
The 12 September 1861 edition of The New York Times reported the arrest of Wall on charges of "secession proclivities". There was a rumor in Trenton that other arrests would be made.[2] He was confined in Fort Lafayette for several weeks.[1] Political prisoner Wall was released with George L. Bowne and Pierce Butler (married to Frances ("Fanny") Kemble).[3]
Released after pledging allegiance to the Union, Wall wrote a letter to the editor stating: "There, if the great principles of constitutional liberty are not a delusion and a snare, and our boasted freedom a sham, may yet be found a place of refuge for liberty against despotism -- the oppressed from the oppressor."[4] Wall, a newspaper editor, was alluding to the presence of Simon Cameron at the bar of the Continental Hotel in Philadelphia. Cameron had ordered his arrest. The New York Times published Wall's letter on the first anniversary of the Pratt Street Riot.
Wall was elected by the New Jersey legislature as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Renshaw Thomson and served from January 14 to March 3, 1863. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection.[1]
Wall was a shameless literary plagiarist: entire pages of description of Italy in his 1856 book Foreign Etchings[5] were stolen without attribution from a 1849 book Notes of a two years' residence in Italy by the Irishman Hamilton Geale.[6]
Wall, James. The Constitution: Originating in Compromise, It Can Only Be Preserved by Adhering to Its Spirit, and Observing Its Every Obligation. Philadelphia: King & Baird, 1862
Wall, James. Speeches for the Times by Hon. James W. Wall, of New Jersey. New York: J. Walter & Co., 1864.
