Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/67

Rh On 31 May they unanimously adopted the Mecklen- burg declaration of independence, substantially re- nouncing allegiance to the British crown and pro- viding for a civil government upon a republican basis. This document, antedated by more than a year the formal declaration of 1776, and vi^as itself preceded by several others, notably that of Men- don, Mass. It was in due form signed, was read to mass meetings of the people of North Carolina, and in August, 1775, was transmitted to Philadel- phia by the hand of a special messenger.

ALEXANDER, Archer, freedman, b. near Richmond, Va., about 1810 ; d. in St. Louis, Mo., 8 Dec, 1879. He was a slave, and fled to St. Louis, then under martial law, in 1863, and was formally liberated the same year. He served as the model for " the freedman " in the bronze group by Thom- as Ball, standing in the capitol grounds in Wash- ington, and known as " Freedom's Memorial." In 1831 he was taken to Missouri by his young mas- ter. During the reign of terror in that state at the outbreak of the war he learned that the pi'o-slavery party had cut the timbers of a certain bridge so that it should break down inider a tram carrying a detachment of national troops about to pass over it. At the risk of his life he conveyed the informa- tion to a well-known union man, and the detach- ment was saved. Alexander was suspected as the informant and arrested by a pro-slavery committee. He made his escape to and secured employment in St. Louis under a provost marsh.d's certificate. Until the emancipation proclamation assured his permanent freedom he was in constant danger from kidnappers. Although almost wholly illiter- ate, he had a shrewd intelligence and was a skilled and efficient workman. A stone commemorating his capture as a fugitive slave has been raised on tlie spot where he was taken when making his es- cape from slavery. See " The Story of Archer Al- exander" (Boston, 1886).

ALEXANDER, Archibald, educator, b. in Rockbridge co., Va., 17 April, 1772: d. in Prince- ton, N. J.", 22 Oct., 1851. His grandfather, of Scot- tish descent, came from Ireland to Pennsylvania in 1736, and after a residence of two years removed to Virginia. William, father of Archibald, was a farmer and trader. At the age of ten Ar- chibald was sent to the academy of Rev. William Gra- ham at Timber Ridge meeting- house (since de- veloped into Washington and Lee university), at Lexington. At the age of seven- teen he became a tutor in the fami- Iv of Gen. John Posey, of The Wil- derness, twelve miles westofB'red- ei'icksburg, but after a few months resumed his studies with his former teacher. At this time his mind became influenced by a remarkable movement, still spoken of as " the great revival," and he turned his attention to the study of divinity. He was licensed to preach 1 Oct., 1701, ordained by the presbytery of Hanover 9 .June, 1794, and for seven years was an itinerant pastor in Charlotte and Prince Edward cos. In 1796 he became president of Hampden Sydney college, Va,. but in 1801 resigned, and visited New York and New England. During his tour he went to see the Rev. Dr. Waddel, the celebrated blincl preacher mentioned by Wirt in his " British Spy." The result of this visit was his marriage to Dr. Waddel's daughter Janetta. Immediately after he resumed his pi'esidency, but, owing to insubordina- tion among the students, retired, and became in 1807 pastor of the Pine st. Presbyterian church in Philadelphia. The degree of D. D. was conferred on him by the college of New Jersey in 1810, and in the same year he was elected president of Union college in Georgia, a fact which remained unknown even to his family until after his death. On the organization of the theological seminary at Prince- ton in 1812 Dr. Alexander was unanimously chosen as the leading professor. As the number of students increased and other professors were added to the faculty, he was enabled to direct his attention more particularly to the department of pastoral and polemic theology, in promoting which, with the gcTieral interests of the institution, he la- bored with zeal and success till his death, a period of nearly forty years. His powers both for pulpit oratory and polemic disquisition were extraordi- nary. He was always busy, and from 1829 to 1850 scarcely a number of the " Princeton Review " ap- peared without an article from his pen. His style was idiomatic and forcible. With the exception of occasional sermons and contributions to periodi- cals, he published nothing until he had entered his fifty-second year. His first work was " Outlines of the Evidences of Christianity " (1823), which has been translated into various foreign languages and is used as a text-book in colleges. It was reprinted in London in 1828, and again with a new edition in 1833, accompanied with introductory notes by Rev. John Morison, D. D. This was followed by a " Treatise on the Canqn of the Old and New Tes- taments " (1826) ; " Lives of the Patriarchs " (1835) ; " Essays on Religious Experiences " (1840) ; " His- tory of African Colonization " (1846) ; " History of the Log College " (1846) ; " History of the Israelit- ish Nation " (1852), and other works. He also con- tributed largely to periodicals. Pie left several works in manuscript, of which the " Outlines of Moral Science " (1852) was pronounced by the " Westmin- ster Review " to be a " calm, clear stream of ab- stract reasoning, flowing from a thoughtful, well- instructed mind, witliout any parade of logic, but with an intuitive simplicity and directness which gives an almost axiomatic force." Other posthu- mous works were " Duties and Consolations of the Christian " ; " Patriarchal Theology " ; " History of the Presbyterian Church in Virginia " ; " Biographi- cal Sketches of Distinguished American Clergymen and Alunmi of the College of New Jersey " ; and " Church Polity and Discipline." He left five sons, of whom three became ministers, and one daugh- ter. The eldest son wrote the life of his father, and edited his posthumous works (New York, 1854). — His son, James Waddel, clergyman, b. near Gordonsville, Louisa co., Va., 13 March, 1804 ; d. at the Red Sweet Springs, Va., 31 July, 1859. He re- ceived his academical training at Philadelphia, was graduated at Princeton in 1820, and studied the- ology in Princeton seminary. In 1824 he was appointed a tutor, and during the same year he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, N. J. During 1825-'28 he was in charge of a church in Charlotte co., Va., and from 1828 to 1830 was pastor of the first Presbyterian church in Trenton, N. J. His health failing, he resigned this charge and became editor of "The Presbyte-