The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Adams, Nehemiah

ADAMS, Nehemiah, American Congregational clergyman: b. Salem, Mass., 19 Feb. 1806; d. 6 Oct. 1878. He was graduated at Harvard in 1826, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1829. The same year he settled at Cambridge, but 1834-70 was pastor of the Essex Street Church in Boston, and was widely reputed for his eloquence and learning. He published several polemic works; a great sensation and much hostile criticism were created by &lsquo;A South Side View of Slavery &rsquo; published in 1854 after a winter in Georgia, in which he lauded slavery as beneficial to the

negroes' religious character. He published also a &lsquo;Life of John Eliot.&rsquo;