ADAMS 



38 



ADAMS 



Jackson should have been chosen in 1824, 

 and he was still the popular hero. Opposition 

 in the South and in New England to the plans 

 for internal improvements, disapproval of the 

 high tariff of 1828, and the demand of the 

 \\.-t for a hearing all combined to make 

 Adams' reelection impossible. Jackson was 

 the people's choice (see JACKSON, ANDREW). 



The "Old Man Eloquent." At the close of 

 his term, Adams returned to his home in 

 Quincy, Mass. Two years later he entered the 

 House of Representatives, with the aid of the 

 votes cast by the Anti-Masons (which see), 

 and for seventeen years he served without a 

 break. He was once asked if he did not think 

 that membership in the House was degrading 

 to a man who had once been President, but 

 he proudly replied that no person could be 

 degraded by sen-ing the people as a Repre- 

 sentative in Congress, or even, he added, as a 

 selectman of his town. For these seventeen 

 re he was the leader in Congress in the 

 fight against the extension of slavery, although 

 he was not himself an abolitionist. It is note- 

 worthy that he seems to have been the first 

 to proclaim the doctrine on which Lincoln 

 based the emancipation of negro slaves, for in 

 as early as 1836 he said in a speech in Con- 

 gress: "From the instant that your slave- 

 holding states become the theater of \var 

 civil, servile, or foreign from that instant the 

 war powers of the Constitution extend to the 

 institution of slavery in every way in which it 

 can be interfered with." After 1845, when he 

 secured the repeal of the "Gag Rules" which 

 prevented the presentation of petitions about 

 slavery, Adams spoke less often. Late in 1846 

 he had a stroke of paralysis, which confined 

 him to his home for several months. On 

 February 21, 1848, when at his desk on the 

 floor of the House, he suffered a second stroke. 

 He was carried to the Speaker's room, and he 

 died two days later. A.H.H. 



Additional Points of Interest. A favorite 

 name for Adams in his own days was "The 

 Walking Vocabulary." 



The deaths of John Adams and of Jefferson 

 occurred during his administration. 



When the Erie Canal was opened the news 

 was "telegraphed" to New York by cannon fire. 

 The cannons were placed at intervals of thir- 

 teen miles between Buffalo and New York. 



As the last cannon was fired, a keg of water 

 from Lake Erie was poured into the Atlantic 

 to symbolize the union of the ocean and the 

 Great Lakes. 



John Q. Adams left what has been called by 

 far the most valuable diary in existence. It 

 is in twelve large volumes, and contains his 

 comments on events from 1795 to 1848. It 

 gives of himself "a portrait more full, correct, 

 vivid and picturesque than has ever been be- 

 queathed to posterity by any other personage 

 of the past ages." 



The first edition of Webster's Dictionary 

 appeared during Adams' administration. 



Months before the Monroe Doctrine was 

 ever announced or even formulated Adams 

 told the Russian minister "that the American 

 Continents are no longer subjects for any new 

 European colonial establishments." This is 

 the first hint of the famous doctrine. 



Affectionate with his family, Adams had 

 toward most people a cold, repellant manner, 

 and it is not strange that "no man of pure 

 life and just purposes ever had fewer friends 

 or more enemies." 



Short, stout and bald, with a high shrill 

 voice, liable at any time to break, Adams owed 

 none of his power as an orator to personal 

 attractiveness. 



Adams' last words were, "This is the last of 

 earth! I am content." 



For further study consult Memoirs, written by 

 himself and edited by Charles Francis Adams ; 

 Morse's John Quincy Adatnu. 



ADAMS, MAUD KISKADDEN (1872- ), an 

 American actress, very popular because of her 

 presentation of such roles as Babbie in Tin- 

 Little Minister and Peter Pan in the play of 

 the same name. She was born in Salt Lake 

 City, Utah, appeared on the stage while a 

 child, and at sixteen years of age joined E. H. 

 Sothern's company. As a member of Froh- 

 man's stock company her reputation grew 

 steadily and she gained great popularity as 

 Juliet, and as the Due de Reichstadt in 

 UAiglon. Later she appeared in the title role 

 of Rostand's Chantccler, and in Barrio's Legend 

 of Leonora. 



ADAMS, SAMUEL (1722-1803), an American 

 statesman of the famous Adams family, second 

 cousin of John Adams, and one of, the signers 

 of the Declaration of Independence. He early 

 devoted himself to politics, and in the dispute 

 between America and the mother country he 

 showed himself one of the most efficient and 

 unselfish laborers for American freedom and 

 independence. Several influential political 

 papers for the cause of independence were writ- 

 tea by him. Adams sat in Congress eight 

 years, but during that period showed a lack 



