Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/55

ADAMSADAMS. treason. A plan was made to seize them at Lexington, April 19, but they were forewarned by Paul Revere, while stopping at the house of Rev. Jonas Clark. There was a guard about the house, and when Revere rode up to warn the patriot leaders he was told not to make so much noise. "Noise!" was his reply, "you'll have noise enough before long; the regulars are coming on." After the warning by Revere, Adams and Hancock went to a hill, southeast of Mr. Clark's, then well wooded, and remained until the British troops had passed on to Concord. They were afterwards taken to the home of Madam Jones in Burlington, — the Sewall house shown in an illustration in this article. From thence, on a new alarm, they went to Billerica. While walking in the field, after hearing the firing at Lexington, Adams said to one of his companions, "It is a fine day." "Very pleasant," was the reply, having reference to the brightness of the dawning day. "I mean," was the earnest and prophetic reply, "I mean this is a glorious day for America." They made their way to Philadelphia in time for the second session of Congress, May 10, 1775. Here he stood almost alone in proposing immediate separation from the mother country. On June 12th General Gage proclaimed pardon "to all persons who should lay down their arms and return to the duties of peaceful subjects, excepting only from the benefits of such pardon, Samuel Adams and John Hancock, whose offences are of too flagitious a nature to admit any other consideration than that of condign punishment." The army hastily-gathered around Boston, and which had done so good service at Concord and Lexington, was adopted by Congress through the efforts of Samuel and John Adams, and on his return home he found that the "territory of Massachusetts Bay" had been founded, and that he had been made one of the first eighteen councillors, and shortly after he was made secretary of state. Forthwith he made his home in Cambridge. On June 17, 1775, the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, and General Warren killed; and on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed, and Samuel Adams "reached the most triumphant moment of his life." He helped to frame the state constitution of Massachusetts in 1780, but hesitated in accepting the constitution of the United States as framed in 1787, although he did not actively oppose it; and in the Massachusetts convention of 1788, having the document under consideration, he for two weeks sat silent listening to the arguments of the other members. He then decided to support it, and reserved only the condition that the new congress should consider amendments in the nature of a bill of rights. His decision to act secured Massachusetts to the Union, and carried the convention by a vote of 187 yeas to 168 nays. It was this proposed amendment of Samuel Adams that led to the attaching of the first ten amendments to the constitution as declared in force Dec. 15, 1791. In 1789 Mr. Adams was elected lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, and in 1794 was chosen its governor, serving three terms. His only son, Samuel, was educated at Harvard, graduating with the class of 1771, and died in 1788. He received the degree of LL.D. from Harvard in 1792, and was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In April, 1898, a tablet was erected to his memory by the Sons of the Revolution, and in October 1900, his name was one of the thirty-seven in "Class M., Rulers and Statesmen," eligible for a place in the Hall of Fame, New York University, and received thirty-three votes. He died in Boston, Mass., Oct. 2, 1803. ADAMS, Stephen, senator, was born in Pendleton district, S.C, Oct. 17, 1804, son of David Adams, a Baptist clergyman. He removed with his parents to Franklin county, Tenn., in 1812. He was admitted to the bar in 1829 and practised in Franklin county. He was a member of the state senate, 1833-'34, when he removed to Aberdeen, Miss. He was circuit court judge, 1837-46; a representative in the 29th congress, 1845-47; and in the state legislature, 1850; a delegate to the state convention, 1851, and a U.S. senator, completing the term of Jefferson Davis, resigned, 1851-55. At the close of his term he removed to Memphis, Tenn., where he continued to practice law. He died in Memphis, Tenn., May 11, 1857. ADAMS, Sherman Walcott, lawyer, was born at Wethersfield, Conn., May 6, 1836, son of Welles Adams. He was educated at Wethersfield academy and at Alger institute, Cornwall, Conn., and graduated at Harvard, LL.B., in 1861. He was appointed acting assistant paymaster in the U.S. navy at the outbreak of the civil war, and served on a gunboat in the Gulf of Mexico. He engaged in the practice of law at Hartford, Conn., after his discharge in 1865, and devoted his leisure to literary work, contributing articles to the "Memorial History of Hartford County" (1886), and to the publications of the Connecticut historical society. He was the author of the resolution passed by the state legislature in 1889, which resulted in the topographical survey of Connecticut in 1895.