PREFACE. POLITICAL laws, wisely framed, have made the United States powerful and wealthy to a degree unexampled in modern times; and I have thought that a book of facts, recording the public services of our national lawmakers, would be a deserved tribute to them, and, at the same time, be generally useful. The record embraces the Senators, Representatives, and Delegates, who have served under the Federal Constitution, as well as the Delegates to the Continental Congress, and has been made in each case as correct and concise as possible. Of many men more might have been written, but that was not deemed expedient in a work of this kind; and where not enough has been said, the fault must be attributed to the indifference of the persons mostly interested, or to the neglect of their friends. Not being a politician, it has given me but little trouble to be impartial. My intention has been to express no opinions of living men, and but seldom to echo public opinion in regard to the dead. My leading object has been to prepare a kind of labor-saving machine, compiled from original data and the National Archives, for the benefit of Members of Congress and of State Legislatures, of the Civil Officers of the Government, of Politicians and Lawyers, and all who feel an interest in the political history and future prosperity of the Republic. BIOGRAPHICAL RECORDS. Abbot, Joel.-Was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, emigrated to Georgia, and was elected a Representative in Congress, from Wilkes County, in that State, from 1817 to 1825, serving as a member of the Committees on Commerce and the SlaveTrade. Died November 19, 1826. Abbott, Amos. - Born in Andover, Massachusetts, September 10, 1786. He was educated at a district school, but spent the most of his life as a trader and merchant. During the years 1835, 1836, and 1842, he was a Representative in the Massachusetts Legislature; and from 1840 to 1842 a member of the State Senate. He represented his native State in Congress from 1843 to 1849, and was a member of the Committees on the Militia and on Manufactures. Abbott, Nehemiah.-Born in Sidney, Maine, March 29, 1806. He was a lawyer by profession; was a member of the House of Representatives, in the Maine Legislature, in 1842 and 1843, and was elected a Representative to the Thirty-fifth Congress, serving as a member of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. Abercrombie, James.-He was born in Georgia, and, removing to Alabama, was a Representative in Congress, from that State, from 1851 to 1855. Adair, John.-He was born in 1758, in Chester County, South Carolina; emigrated to Kentucky in 1787; served as a Major in the border warfare of the time; was elected to the Kentucky Legislature, serving one year as Speaker; was a member in 1799 of the Convention which formed the State Constitution; subsequently held the office of Register of the Land Office in Kentucky; and was a Senator of the United States, from Kentucky, during the years 1805 and 1806; commanded the Kentucky troops at the battle of New Orleans, under General Jackson; and was appointed a General in the army. He was elected a Representative in Congress, from Kentucky, from 1831 to 1833, and was a member of the Committee on Military Affairs. He died at Harrodsburg, May 19, 1840. Adams, Andrew.-He was born in Stratford, Connecticut, in January, 1736; graduated at Yale College in 1760; adopted the profession of law, and settled in the practice at Litchfield, in 1764; from 1777 to 1782 he was a Delegate from Connecticut to the Continental Congress, and was one of the signers of the Articles of Confederation; and in 1789 he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and in 1793 Chief Justice of said Court. He received from Yale College the degree of LL.D.; and died November 26, 1799. Adams, Benjamin.-Born at Worcester, Massachusetts; was a member of the Legislature, as Representative, from 1809 to 1814, and as Senator, in 1814 and 1815; and from 1822 to 1825; and was a Representative in Congress from his native State, from 1816 to 1821, having årst been elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of E. Brigham; and was a member of the Committees on Revolutionary Pensions and Public Expenditures. died at Uxbridge, Massachusetts, in April, 1837. He Adams, Charles F.-Born in Boston, August 18, 1807; spent the most of his boyhood in St. Petersburg and London, whilst his father, John Quincy Adams, was Minister to Russia and England; he graduated at Harvard University in 1825; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1828; served three years in the Lower House, and two years in the Upper House of the Massachusetts Legislature; in 1848 he was a Delegate to the Buffalo Convention, and elected President; was the candidate for Vice-President on the ticket with Mr. Van Buren; and he was elected a Representative from Massachusetts to the Thirty-sixth Congress, serving as Chairman of the Committee on Manufactures, and as a member of the Special Committee of Thirty-three on the Rebellious States. He was at one time the editor of a paper called the "Boston Whig;" was a contributor to the North American Review, and the editor of the well-known Adams Letters, and is the author of the standard Biography of his grandfather, John Adams. Re-elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress, but was appointed by President Lincoln Minister to 9 |