action whatever shall be had thereon.” After the yeas and nays had been ordered on this, when Mr. Adams's name was called he rose and said: “I hold the resolution to be a direct violation of the constitution of the United States, the rules of this house, and the rights of my constituents.” The house sought to drown his words with loud shrieks and yells of “Order!” “Order!” but he raised his voice to a shout and defiantly finished his sentence. The rule was adopted by a vote of 117 to 68, but it did more harm than good to the pro-slavery party. They had put themselves in an untenable position, and furnished Mr. Adams with a powerful weapon which he used against them without mercy. As a parliamentary debater he has had few if any superiors; in knowledge and dexterity there was no one in the house who could be compared with him; he was always master of himself, even at the white heat of anger to which he often rose; he was terrible in invective, matchless at repartee, and insensible to fear. A single-handed fight against all the slave-holders in the house was something upon which he was always ready to enter, and he usually came off with the last word. Though the vituperative vocabulary of the English language seemed inadequate to express the hatred and loathing with which the pro-slavery party regarded him, though he was more than once threatened with assassination, nevertheless his dauntless bearing and boundless resources compelled the respect of his bitterest opponents, and members from the south, with true chivalry, sometimes confessed it. Every session he returned to the assault upon the gag-rule, until the disgraceful measure was rescinded in 1845. This part of Mr. Adams's career consisted of a vast number of small incidents, which make a very interesting and instructive chapter in American history, but can not well be epitomized. He came to serve as the rallying-point in congress for the ever-growing anti-slavery sentiment, and may be regarded, in a certain sense, as the first founder of the new republican party. He seems to have been the first to enunciate the doctrine upon which Mr. Lincoln afterward rested his great proclamation of emancipation. In a speech in congress in 1836 he said: “From the instant that your slave-holding states become the theatre of war — civil, servile, or foreign — from that instant the war powers of the constitution extend to interference with the institution of slavery in every way in which it can be interfered with.” As this principle was attacked by the southern members, Mr. Adams from time to time reiterated it, especially in his speech of 14 April, 1842, on the question of war with England and Mexico, when he said: “Whether the war be civil, servile, or foreign, I lay this down as the law of nations: I say that the military authority takes for the time the place of all municipal institutions, slavery among the rest. Under that state of things, so far from its being true that the states where slavery exists have the exclusive management of the subject, not only the president of the United States, but the commander of the army has power to order the universal emancipation of the slaves.”
After the rescinding of the gag-rule Mr. Adams spoke less frequently. In November, 1846, he had a shock of paralysis, which kept him at home four months. On 21 Feb., 1848, while he was sitting in the house of representatives, came the second shock. He was carried into the speaker's room, where he lay two days, and died on the 23d. His last words were: “This is the last of earth; I am content.” See “Life and Public Services of John Quincy Adams,” by William H. Seward (Auburn, 1849); “Life of John Quincy Adams,” by Josiah Quincy (Boston, 1858); “Diary of John Quincy Adams,” edited by Charles F. Adams, 12 vols., 8vo (Philadelphia, 1874-'7); “John Quincy Adams,” by John T. Morse, Jr. (Boston, 1882).
The steel portrait of Mr. Adams, facing page 24, is from a picture by Marchant, in the possession of the New York Historical Society. The mansion represented on page 26 is the Adams homestead at Quincy, in which the presidents lived, now the summer residence of Charles Francis Adams.
ADAMS, Julius Walker, civil engineer, b. in
Boston, Mass., 18 Oct., 1812. He entered West
Point academy in 1830, but was never graduated.
After acting as assistant engineer of various
railroads, from 1832 to 1844, he was at Cochituate
water-works, Boston, in 1846, and in the same year
became superintending engineer of the Erie railway.
He removed to Kentucky in 1852, was chief
engineer of the Central railroad, and in 1855 of
the Memphis and Ohio railroad. He had charge
of the establishment of a system of sewers in
Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1856, and in 1860 was engineer
of the water-works at New Haven, Conn. During
the civil war he was colonel of the 67th New York
volunteers, and was wounded at Fair Oaks. Since
then he has been chief engineer of the city works
of Brooklyn, projector of the East River suspension
bridge, and for six years consulting engineer
to the department of public works, New York. He
has been president of the American society of civil
engineers, and has published “Sewers and Drains,”
and various scientific papers. — His son, Julius
W., b. in Westfield, Mass., in April, 1840, d. in
Brooklyn, N. Y., 15 Nov., 1865, was graduated at
West Point in 1861, served there as assistant
instructor of infantry tactics till June, 1862, was
wounded and taken prisoner at Gaines's Mills,
promoted captain in August, 1862, and served
at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg,
where he commanded a regiment, and the second
battle of Cold Harbor, where he received wounds
that caused his death.
ADAMS, Nehemiah, clergyman, b. in Salem,
Mass., 19 Feb., 1806; d. 6 Oct., 1878. He was
graduated at Harvard in 1826, and at Andover
theological seminary in 1829. His first pastoral
charge, beginning immediately after his graduation,
was the first church of Cambridge, as the
colleague of the Rev. Abiel Holmes, D. D. On 26
March, 1834, he became pastor of the Essex st.
church, Boston, a relation which lasted until his
death. He took a prominent part in the theological
and ecclesiastical controversies of his time, and
for many years was an officer of the American
tract society, and of the American board of
commissioners for foreign missions. His “South Side
View of Slavery” (Boston, 1854), and his
correspondence with Governor Wise, of Virginia, on
kindred topics, the best-known of his works, called
out many unfavorable comments from the
anti-slavery press. His “Sable Cloud” (Boston, 1863), “a Southern tale with Northern Comments,” provoked similar discussion. He also wrote “The Cross in the Cell,” “Scriptural Argument for Endless Punishment,” “Broadcast,” and “At Eventide.” In 1869, in consequence of his failing health, his people procured an associate pastor and gave Dr. Adams a long leave of absence. He made a voyage round the world and described it in “Under the Mizzenmast” (1871).
ADAMS, Robert H., senator, b. in Rockbridge co., Va., in 1792; d. in Natchez, Miss., 2 July, 1830. He was graduated at Washington college, Lexington, Ky., was admitted to the bar, and practised in
