Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/544

AMERICAN RIVER. the Sacramento River, into which it empties a little above Sacramento City. Gold has been frequently found along its banks.

 AMERICAN SYCAMORE. See.

 AMERICAN SYS'TEM. See.

 AMERICAN U'NIVER'SITY. An institution of higher learning for post-graduate study under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, situated at Washington, D. C. It was chartered in 1893, and the plans include a series of colleges, specializing respectively in history, language, and literature, philosophy, the several sciences, technology, sociology, and economics, law, civics, medicine, art, and comparative religion. The plan of organization provided that for entrance to all courses, the bachelor's degree, or its equivalent in scholarship, should be required. The assets in 1901 amounted to $1,600,000. Chancellor, 1901, John F. Hurst, D.D., LL.D.

 AMERICAN WINE. See.

 AMER'ICUS. A city and the county seat of Sumter Co., Ga., 70 miles south-southwest of Macon, at the junction of the Central of Georgia, and Georgia and Alabama railroads (Map: Georgia, B 3). It is in a cotton and sugar-cane district, and has chemical works, iron foundry, and machine shops. The city owns and operates its water works. Americus was settled in 1832, incorporated 1SS5. and is governed by a charter of 1889, which places the mayor's term at two years, and provides for a city council of six, elected on a general ticket, with full power of appointments. Pop., 1890, 6398; 1900, 7674.  AMERIGHI, a'ma-re'ge, Michelangelo. See.

 AMERIGO VESPUCCI, ä′m-re'go ves-poo'-che. See Vesitcius, Ahekicus.

<section end="Amerigo Vespucci" /> <section begin="Amerind" />AM'ERIND. A name suggested as a designation for the American Indians (including the Eskimo and the Fuegians), as distinguished from the natives of India and the adjacent regions. It is compounded from the two words, American and Indian, and originated with Major J. W. Powell, Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology.

<section end="Amerind" /> <section begin="Amerling, Friedrich" />AMERLING, ä′mẽr-lǐng, (1803-87). An Austrian painter, born at Vienna. He studied there and at London, Paris, and Munich, and went to Italy in 1831. Upon his return he painted a portrait of the Emperor Franz I., and from that time was the most prominent of Austrian portrait painters. His portraits number not far from a thousand, and are distinguished by brilliant coloring, but sometimes fail of definiteness in characterization. Consult: Bodenstein, Hundert Jahre Kunstgeschichte Wiens (Vienna, 1888) ; and for his life, Frankl (Vienna, 1889).

<section end="Amerling, Friedrich" /> <section begin="Amersfoort" />AMERSFOORT, ä′mẽrz-fört. An ancient town in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands, 15 miles nortleast of Utrecht on the Fern, which flows into the Zuyder Zee (Map: Neherlands, D 2) The town is situated in a fertile plain, at the foot of sandy hills. Tobacco Is much grown in the district, and cotton and woolen goods, leather, soap, beer, etc.. are manufactured. The Catholic church of St. Mary, built in the fourteenth century, has a Gothic tower 308 feet high, considered the finest in Holland. There is also a college of Jansenists in the town, it

being one of the chief seats of this sect, which does not now exist outside of Holland. Pop., 1890, 15,500; 1900, 19,000.

<section end="Amersfoort" /> <section begin="Ames" />AMES. A city in Story Co., la., 37 miles north of Des Moines, on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad (Map: Iowa, D 3). It is the seat of the State Agricultural College, which has a plant covering some 900 acres. The electric light plant is owned and operated by the municipality. Pop., 1890, 1276; 1900, 2422.

<section end="Ames" /> <section begin="Ames, Adelbert" />AMES, (1835—). An American soldier. He was born at Rockland, Me., and graduated at West Point in 1801. He was wounded at the first battle of Bull Run, and afterward served with distinction at Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg. Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Petersburg. He was brevetted (March 13, 1865) major-general of volunteers for conduct at Fort Fisher, and on July 28, 1866, became a lieutenant-colonel in the regular army. He was afterward Provisional Governor of Mississippi from 1868 to 1869, and was commandant of the Fourth Military District (including Mississippi) from 1869 to 1870, and was a United States senator from 1870 to 1873, when, in spite of the white population, he became Governor of Mississippi by popular election. His administration of affairs soon antagonized the whites, who accused him of favoritism to the negro population, and a bitter race war ensued, culminating in the Vicksburg riot of December 7, 1874. and in numerous minor conflicts between Democrats and Republicans. Finally, in 1876, the Democrats having secured a majority in the Legislature, Ames was impeached, and resigned on condition that the charges against him be withdrawn. (See article on Mississippi.) He then removed to New York, and. later, to Lowell, Mass., and during the Spanish-American War served as brigadier-general of volunteers.

<section end="Ames, Adelbert" /> <section begin="Ames, Fisher" />AMES, (1758-1808). An American orator and Congressman. He was born at Dedham, Mass., April 9, 1758. He graduated at Harvard in 1774, began the practice of law in 1781, and soon became favorably known through his trenchant newspaper articles in condemnation of Shays's Rebellion (q.v.) and in favor of a strong government. This local reputation was increased by his efforts in favor of the Federal constitution in the Massachusetts Convention of 1788, the immediate result of which was his election to Congress, where he served for eight years, becoming known especially as an accomplished public speaker. In his later years he served in the Massachusetts Council, delivered a eulogy on Washington before the Legislature, and produced a number of essays: but he took no part in active politics. In 1804 he declined the presidency of Harvard. He died July 4. 1808. A single volume of his Works was published in Boston (1809), and later his son, Seth Ames, edited his writings and speeches in more extended form, with a memoir by J. T. Kirkland (Boston. 1854).

<section end="Ames, Fisher" /> <section begin="Ames, James Barr" />AMES, James Barr (1846—). An eminent American educator and legal scholar. He was born in Boston, graduated in 1868 at Harvard and in 1872 at the Law School of the University, in 1868–69 was an instructor in a private school at Boston, and from 1871 to 1872 was tutor in German and French at Harvard. In the same institution he was appointed successively instructor in history (1872), associate professor of law (1873), and professor of law (1877). In 1895 <section end="Ames, James Barr" />