USA > Indiana > Delaware County > A portrait and biographical record of Delaware county, Ind. : containing biographical sketches of many prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all of the presidents of the United States, and biographies of the governors of Indiana > Part 2
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When the British parliament had closed the port of Boston, the cry went up through- out the provinces that "The cause of Boston is the cause of us all." It was then, at the suggestion of Virginia, that a congress of all the colonies was called to meet at Philadel- phia, September 5, 1774, to secure their com- mon liberties, peaceably if possible. To this congress Col. Washington was sent as a dele- gate. On May 10, 1775, the congress re- assembled, when the hostile intentions of Eng-
land were plainly apparent. The battles of Concord and Lexington had been fought. Among the first acts of this congress was the election of a commander-in-chief of the: colo- nial forces. This high and responsible office was conferred upon Washington, who was still a member of the congress. He accepted it on June 19, but upon the express condition that he receive no salary. He would keep at exact account of expenses and expect congress to pay them and nothing more. The war was conducted by him under every possible disad- vantage, and while his forces often met with reverses, yet he overcame every obstacle, and after seven years of heroic devotion and match- less skfll he gained liberty for the greatest nation of earth. On December 23, 1783, Washington resigned his commission as com- mander-in-chief of the army to the continental congress sitting at Annapolis, and retired im- mediately to Mount Vernon.
In February, 1789, Washington was unan- imously elected president. In his presidential career he was subject to the peculiar trials in- cidental to a new government; trials from lack of confidence on the part of other govern- ments; trials for the want of harmony between the different sections of our own country; trials from the impoverished condition of the coun- try, owing to the war and want of credit; trials from the beginnings of party strife
At the expiration of his first term he was unanimously re-elected. At the end of this term many were anxious that he be re-elected, but he absolutely refused a third nomination. On the 4th of March, 1797, he returned to his home, hoping to pass there his few remain- ing years free from the annoyance of public life. Later in the year, however, his repose seemed likely to be interrupted by war with France. At the prospect of such a war he was again urged to take command of the armies. He chose his subordinate officers and left to
JOHN ADAMS.
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them the charge of matters in the field, which he superintended from his home. In accepting the command he made the reservation that he was not to be in the field until it was neces- sary. In the midst of these preparations his life was suddenly cut off. December 12, he took a severe cold from a ride in the rain, which, settling in his throat, produced inflam- Ination, and terminated fatally on the night of the 14th. On the 18th his body was borne with military honors to its final resting place, and interred in the family vault at Mount Vernon.
The person of Washington was unusually tall, erect and well proprotioned. His features were of a beautiful symmetry. He commanded respect without any appearance of haughtiness, and was ever serious without being dull.
J OHN ADAMS, the second president and the first vice-president of the United States, was born in Braintree, ¿ now Quincy, Mass., and about ten miles from Boston, October 19, 1735. His great-grandfather, Henry Adams, emigrated from England about 1640, with a family of eight sons, and settled at Braintree. The parents of John were John and Susannah (Boylston) Adams. His father was a farmer of limited means, to which he added the busi- ness of shoemaking. He gave his eldest son, John, a classical education at Harvard college. John graduated in 1755, and at once took charge of the school in Worcester, Mass. This he found but a "school of affliction," from which he endeavored to gain relief by devot- ing himself, in addition, to the study of law. For this purpose he placed himself under the tuition of the only lawyer in the town. He was well fitted for the legal profession, pos- sessing a clear, sonorous voice, being ready and fluent of speech, and having quick perceptive
powers. In 1764 he married Abigail Smith, a daughter of a minister, and a lady of superior in- telligence. Shortly after his marriage (1765) the attempt of parliamentary taxation turned him from law to politics. He took initial steps toward holding a town meeting, and the resolu- tions he offered on the subject became very popular throughout the province, and were adopted word for word by over forty different towns, He moved to Boston in 1768, and became one of the most courageous and prom- inent advocates of the popular cause, and was chosen a member of the general court (the legislature) in 1770.
Mr. Adams was chosen one of the first dele- gates from Massachusetts to the first conti- nental congress, which met in 1774. Here he distinguished himself by his capacity for busi- liess and for debate, and advocated the move- ment for iddependence against the majority of the members. In May, 1776, he moved and carried a resolution in congress that the colo- nies should assume the duties of self-govern- ment. He was a prominent member of the committee of five appointed June 11, to pre- pare a declaration of independence. This article was drawn by Jefferson, but on Adams devolved the task of battling it through con- gress in a three days' debate.
On the day after the Declaration of Inde- pendence was passed, he wrote a letter to his wife which, as we read it now, seems to have been dictated by the spirit of prophecy. "Yesterday," he says, "the greatest question was decided that ever was debated in America; and greater, perhaps, never was or will be decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, 'that these United States are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.' The 4th of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations,
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as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illu- minations from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward for ever. You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood and treasure, that it will cost to main- tain this declaration, and support and defend these states; yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means; and that posterity will triumph, although you and I may rue, which I hope we shall not."
In November, 1777, Mr. Adams was ap- pointed a delegate to France to co-operate with Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were then in Paris, in the endeavor to obtain assistance in arms and money from the French government. He left France June 17, 1779. In September of the same year he was again chosen to go to Paris, and there hold himself in readiness to negotiate a treaty of peace and of commerce with Great Britain, as soon as the British cabinet might be found willing to listen to such proposals. He sailed for France in November, from there he went to Holland, where he negotiated important loans and formed important commercial treaties.
Finally a treaty of peace with England was signed January 21, 1783. The re-action from the excitement, toil and anxiety through which Mr. Adams had passed threw him into a fever. After suffering from a continued fever and becoming feeble and emaciated he was advised to go to England to drink the waters of Batlı. While in England, still drooping and desponding, he received dis- patches from his own government urging the necessity of his going to Amsterdam to nego- tiate another loan. It was winter, his health
was delicate, yet he immediately set out, and through storm, on sea, on horseback and foot, he made the trip.
February 24, 1785, congress appointed Mr. Adams envoy to the court of St. James. Here he met face to face the king of England, who had so long regarded him as a traitor. As England did not condescend to appoint a minister to the United States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he was accomplishing but lit- tle, he sought permission to return to his own country, where he arrived in June, 1788.
When Washington was first chosen presi- dent, John Adams, rendered illustrious by his signal services at home and abroad, was chosen vice president. Again at the second election of Washington as president, Adams was chosen vice president. In 1796, Wash- ington retired from public life, and Mr. Adams was elected president, though not without much opposition. Serving in this office four years, he was succeeded by Mr. Jefferson, his opponent in politics.
While Mr. Adams was vice president the great French revolution shook the continent of Europe, and it was upon this point which he was at issue with the majority of his countrymen led by Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Adams felt no sympathy with the French people in their struggle, for he had no confidence in their power of self-government, and he utterly abhorred the class of atheist philosophers who *he claimed caused it. On the other hand Jefferson's sympathies were strongly enlisted in behalf of the French people. Hence origi- nated the alienation between these distin- guished men, and two powerful parties were thus soon organized, Adams at the head of the one whose sympathies were with England, and Jefferson led the other in sympathy with France. In 1824, his cup of happiness was filled to the brim, by seeing his son elevated to the highest station in the gift of the people.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
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The 4th of July, 1826, which completed the half century since the signing of the Dec- laration of Independence, arrived, and there were but three of the signers of that immortal instrument left upon the earth to hail its morning light. And, as it is well known, on that day two of these finished their earthly pilgrimage, a coincidence so remarkable as to seem miraculous. For a few days before Mr. Adams had been rapidly failing, and on the 4th, he found himself too weak to rise from his bed. On being requested to name a toast for the customary celebration of the day, he ex- claimed "INDEPENDENCE FOREVER." When the day was ushered in, by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannons, he was asked by one of his attendants if he knew what day it was? He replied, "Oh yes; it is the glorious fourth of July-God bless it-God bless you all." In the course of the day he said, "It is a great and glorious day." The last words he uttered were, "Jefferson survives." But he had, at one o'clock, resigned his spirit into the hands of his God. The personal appearance and manners of Mr. Adams were not particu- larly prepossessing. His face, as his portrait manifests, was intellectual and expressive, but his figure was low and ungraceful, and his manners were frequently abrupt and uncourte- ous.
HOMAS JEFFERSON, third presi- dent of the United States, was born April 2, 1743, at Shadwell, Albermarle county, Va. His parents were Peter and Jane (Randolph) Jefferson, the former a native of Wales, and the latter born in Lon- don. To them were born six daughters and two sons, of whom Thomas was the eldest. When fourteen years of age his father died. He received a most liberal education, having been kept diligently at school from the time
he was five years of age. In 1760 he entered William and Mary college. Williamsburg was then the seat of the colonial court, and it was the abode of fashion and splendor. Young Jefferson, who was then seventeen years old, lived somewhat expensively, keeping fine horses, and was much caressed by gay society, yet he was earnestly devoted to his studies, and irreproachable in his morals. In the second year of his college course, moved by some unexplained inward impulse, he discarded his horses, society, and even his favorite violin, to which he had previously given much time. He often devoted fifteen hours a day to hard study, allowing himself for exercise only a run in the evening twilight of a mile out of the city and back again. He thus attained very high intellectual culture, and excellence in philoso- phy and the languages. The most difficult Latin and Greek authors he read with facility.
Immediately upon leaving college he began the study of law. For the short time he con- tinued in the practice of his profession he rose rapidly and distinguished himself by his energy and acuteness as a lawyer. But the times called for greater action. The policy of England had awakened the spirit of resistance of the American colonies, and the enlarged views which Jefferson had ever entertained soon led him into active political life. In 1769 he was chosen a member of the Virginia house of burgesses. In 1772 he married Mrs. Martha Skelton, a very beautiful, wealthy and highly accomplished young widow.
Upon Mr. Jefferson's large estate at Shad- well, there was a majestic swell of land, called Monticello, which commanded a prospect of wonderful extent and beauty. This spot Mr. Jefferson selected for his new home; and here he reared a mansion of modest yet elegant architecture, which, next to Mount Vernon, became the most distinguished resort in our land.
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In 1775 he was sent to the colonial con- gress, where, though a silent member, his abilities as a writer and a. reasoner soon be- came known, and he was placed upon a num- ber of important committees, and was chairman of the one appointed for the drawing up of a declaration of independence. This committee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Rob- ert R. Livingston. Jefferson, as chairman, was appointed to draw up the paper. Frank- lin and Adams suggested a few verbal changes before it was submitted to congress. On June 28, a few slight changes were made in it by congress, and it was passed and signed July 4, 1776. What must have been the feelings of that man-what the emotions that swelled his breast -- who was charged with the preparation of that declaration, which, while it made known the wrongs of America, was also to publish her to the world, free, sovereign and independent !
In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to Patrick Henry, as governor of Virginia. At one time the British officer, Tarleton, sent a secret expedition to Monticello, to capture the governor. Scarcely five minutes elapsed after the hurried escape of Mr. Jefferson and his family, ere his mansion was in possession of the British troops. His wife's health, never very good, was much injured by this excite- ment and in the summer of 1782 she died.
Mr. Jefferson was elected to congress in 1783. Two years later he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to France. Return- ing to the United States in September, 1789, he became secretary of state in Washington's cabinet. This position he resigned January I, 1794. In 1797, he was chosen vice president and four years later was elected president over Mr. Adams, with Aaron Burr as vice president. In 1804 he was re-elected with wonderful unanimity, and George Clinton, vice president.
The early part of Mr. Jefferson's second administration was disturbed by an event which threatened the tranquility and peace of the Union; this was the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated in the late election to the vice presidency, and led on by an unprincipled ambition, this extraordinary man formed the plan of a military expedition into the Spanish territories on our southwestern frontier, for the purpose of forming there a new republic.
In 1809, at the expiration of the second term for which Mr. Jefferson had been elected, he determined to retire from political life. For a period of nearly forty years, he had been continually before the public, and all that time had been employed in offices of the .greatest trust and responsibility. Having thus devoted the best part of his life to the serv- ice of his country, he now felt desirous of that rest which his declining years required, and upon the organization of the new adminis- tration, in March, 1809, he bade farewell for- ever to public life, and retired to Monticello.
The 4th of July, 1826, being the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, great preparations were made in every part of the Union for its celebration, as the nation's jubilee, and the citizens of Washington, to add to the solemnity of the occasion invited Mr. Jefferson, as the framer, and one of the few surviving signers of the Declaration, to participate in their festivities. But an illness, which had been of several weeks' duration, and had been continually increasing, compelled him to decline the invitation.
On the 2d of July, the disease under which he was laboring left him, but in such a reduced state that his medical attendants en- tertained no hope of his recovery. From this time he was perfectly sensible that his last hour was at hand. On the next day, which was Monday, he asked, of those around him, the day of the month, and on being told that
JAMES MADISON.
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it was the 3d of July, he expressed the earnest wish that he might be permitted to breathe the air of the fiftieth anniversary. His prayer was heard-that day, whose dawn was hailed with such rapture through our land, burst upon his eyes, and then they were closed for- ever. And what a noble consummation of a noble life! To die on that day,-the birth of a nation-the day which his own name and own act had rendered glorious; to die amidst the rejoicings and festivities of a whole nation, who looked up to him, as the author, under God, of their greatest blessings, was all that was wanting to fill up the record of his life. Almost at he same hour of his death, the kindred spirit of the venerable Adams, as if to bear him company, left the scene of his earthly honors.
In person Mr. Jefferson was tall and thin, rather above six feet in height, but well formed; his eyes were light, his hair, originally red, in after life became white and silvery; his com- plexion was fair, his forehead broad, and his whole countenance intelligent and thoughtful. He possessed great fortitude of mind as well as personal courage; and his command of tem- per was such that his oldest and most intimate friends never recollected to have seen him in a passion. His manners, though dignified, were simple and unaffected, and his hospitality was so unbounded that all found at his house a ready welcome. In conversation he was fluent, eloquent and entusiastic; and his language was remarkably pure and correct. He was a finished classical scholar, and in his writings is discernable the care with which he formed his style upon the best models of antiquity.
3 AMES MADISON, fourth president of the United States, was born March 16, 1751, and died at his home in Virginia, June 28, 1836. He was the last of the founders of the Constitution of the United
States to be called to his eternal reward. The Madison family were among the early emigrants to the New World. landing upon the shores of the Chesapeake but fifteen years after the settlement of Jamestown. The father of James Madison was an opulent planter, re- siding upon a very fine estate called " Mont- pelier," Orange county, Va. The mansion was situated in the midst of scenery highly picturesque and romantic, on the west side of Southwest Mountain, at the foot of Blue Ridge. It was but twenty-five miles from the home of Jefferson at Monticello. The closest personal and political attachment existed be- tween these illustrious men from their carly youth until death.
The early education of Mr. Madison was conducted mostly at home under a private tutor. At the age of eighteen he was sent to Princeton college, in New Jersey. Here he applied himself to study with the most im- prudent zeal; allowing himself for months, but three hours' sleep out of the twenty-four. His health thus became so seriously impaired that he never recovered any vigor of constitution. He graduated in 1871, when a feeble boy, but with a character of utmost purity, and with a mind highly disciplined and richly stored with learning.
Returning to Virginia, he commenced the study of law and a course of extensive and systematic reading. This educational course, the spirit of the times in which he lived, all combined to inspire him with a strong love of liberty, and to train him for his life-work of a statesman.
In the spring of 1776, when twenty-five years of age, he was elected a member of the Virginia convention, to frame the constitution of the state. The next year (1777) he was a candidate for the general assembly. He re- fused to treat the whisky-loving voters, and con- sequently lost his election; but those who had
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witnessed the talent, energy and public spirit of the modest young man, enlisted themselves in his behalf, and he was appointed to the executive council.
Both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were governors of Virginia while Mr. Madison remained member of the council; and their appreciation of his intellectual, social and moral worth, contributed not a little to his subsequent eminence. In the year 1780, he was elected a member of the continental con- gress. Here he met the most illustrious men in our land, and he was immediately assigned to one of the most conspicuous positions among them. For three years Mr. Madison continued in congress, one of its most active and influential members. In the year 1784, his term having expired, he was elected a member of the Virginia legislature.
No man felt more deeply than Mr. Madison the utter inefficiency of the old confederacy, with no national government, with no power to form treaties which would be binding, or to enforce law. There was not any state more prominent than Virginia in the declaration, that an efficient national government must be formed. In January, 1786, Mr. Madison car- ried a resolution through the general assembly of Virginia, inviting the other states to appoint commissioners to meet in convention at Ann- apolis to discuss the subject. Five states only were represented. The convention, however, issued another call, drawn up by Mr. Madison, urging all the states to send their delegates to Philadelphia, in May, 1787, to draft a consti- tution for the United States, to take the place of that confederate league. The delegates met at the time appointed. Every state but Rhode Island was represented. George Washington was chosen president of the convention; and the present constitution of the United States was then and there formed. There was, per- haps, no mind and no pen more active in
framing this immortal document than the mind and pen of James Madison.
The constitution, adopted by a vote of 81 to 79, was to be presented to the several states for acceptance. But grave solicitude was felt. Should it be rejected we should be left but a conglomeration of independent states, with but little power at home and little respect abroad. Mr. Madison was selected by the convention to draw up an address to the peo- ple of the United States, expounding the prin- ciples of the constitution, and urging its adop- tion. There was great opposition to it at first, but it at length triumphed over all, and went into effect in 1789.
Mr. Madison was elected to the house of representatives in the first congress, and soon became the avowed leader of the republican party. While in New York attending con- gress, he met Mrs. Todd, a young widow of remarkable power of fascination, whom he married. She was in person and character queenly, and probably no lady has thus far occupied so prominent a position in the very peculiar society which has constituted our re- publican court, as Mrs. Madison.
Mr. Madison served as secretary of state under Jefferson, and at the close of his administration was chosen president. At this time the encroachments of Eng- land had brought us to the verge of war. British orders in council destroyed our com- merce, and our flag was exposed to constant insult. Mr. Madison was a man of peace. Scholarly in his taste, retiring in his disposi- tion, war had no charms for him. But the meekest spirit can be roused. It makes one's blood boil, even now, to think of an American ship brought to upon the ocean by the guns of an English cruiser. A young lieutenant steps on board and orders the crew to be paraded before him. With great nonchalance he selects any number whom he may please to designate
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JAMES MONROE.
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as British subjects; orders them down the ship's side into his boat; and places them on the gun-deck of his man-of-war to fight, by compulsion, the battles of England. This right of search and impressment, no efforts of our government could induce the British cabi- net to relinquish.
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