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fought battles, and rapid promotion followed, until he reached the rank of captain. He was at Harlem Heights and White Plains, and shared the perils and fatigues of the distressing retreat of Washington through New Jersey, as well as the glory of the victory over the Hessians at Trenton, where he received a musket ball in the shoulder; notwithstanding which, he valiantly "fought out the fight." He subsequently accepted the post of an aid to Lord Sterling, with the rank of Major, in which position he saw much hard service-being engaged in almost every conflict for the two succeeding campaigns, and displaying great courage and coolness at the bloody battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth.

Aspiring to a separate command, he obtained permission to raise a regiment in his native State; for which purpose he left the army, and returned to Virginia, where he encountered so many unexpected and discouraging obstacles, that he finally relinquished the enterprise, and resumed his law studies in the office of Mr. Jefferson.

In 1780 he was elected to the Virginia Legislature, and in the following year was made one of Governor Jefferson's council, in which he continued until 1783, when, at the age of twenty four years, he became a member of the Continental Congress. After serving three years in that body, he was again returned to the State Legislature.

In 1788, while a member of the Convention to decide upon the adoption of the new Constitution, he voted in the minority against that instrument; but this vote did not at all affect his popularity. Two years afterwards he was elected United States' Senator, and in 1794 he was sent envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the court of Versailles. After settling the cession of Louisiana to the United States, he went to England to succeed Mr. King as minister at the court of St. James. The affair of the frigate Chesapeake placing him in an uncomfortable situation, he returned to the United States, and, in 1810, was once more elected to the Virginia Legislature. He was soon after chosen Governor of that State, in which office he remained until Mr. Madison called him to assume the duties of Secretary of State in his cabinet. In 1817, he was elected President of the United States, and in 1821 was unanimously re-elected, with the exception of a single vote in New Hampshire. His administration was a prosperous and quiet one.

He united with Jefferson and Madison in founding the University of Virginia; and when the convention was formed for the revision of the Constitution of his State, he was called to preside over its action. Not long after this, he went to reside with a beloved daughter (the wife of Samuel L. Gouverneur, Esq.) in New York City, where he lived until the anniversary of Independence in 1831, when, "amidst the pealing joy and congratulations of that proud day, he passed quietly and in glory away.'

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JOHN QUINCY ADAMS,

THE SIXTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

Was born at Quincy, Massachusetts, July 11, 1767, and received the advantages of a pretty thorough education before entering Harvard College, which was not until the year 1786. After

graduating with marked credit, he commenced the study of law at Newburyport, in the office of the Hon. Theophilus Parsons, for many years Chief Justice of Massachusetts. While pursuing his studies he found leisure to write several newspaper essays, which attracted much attention, and displayed a matu rity of taste and judgment seldom attained so early in life. In 1794 Washington appointed him minister to the Netherlands, and subsequently transferred him to Portugal. He was afterwards, at different periods, minister to Prussia, Russia, and England; and was one of the commissioners who negotiated the treaty of peace with Great Britain, at Ghent, in 1815. In 1817 he was appointed Secretary of State, in which office he continued during Mr. Monroe's administration, eight years; when he was elected by the House of Representatives President of the United States-the people having failed in making a choice. Like his father, he encountered strong opposition, and only served one term in this office, being defeated in a re-election by General Jackson. He then retired to his farm at Quincy, but did not long remain in private life; for two years afterwards, he was chosen Representative in Congress, and continued to be re-elected until his death, which occurred in the capitol at Washington, February 23, 1848. Two days previous to this sad event, while engaged in his duties in the House of Representatives, he received a paralytic stroke, which apparently deprived him of all consciousness. He was borne to the Speaker's room, where he received every attention that could be bestowed by anxious and devoted friends, but all in vain-his hour was come. The last words he was heard to utter were, "This is the last of earth."

Mr. Adams was a man of rare gifts and rich acquisitions. A diligent student, and economical of his time, he found opportunity, amidst all his public cares, to cultivate his tastes for literature and the sciences. He was one of the finest classical and belles-lettres scholars of his time, and filled the chair of Professor of Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres in Harvard College for several years. Even in his old age, he often astonished his hearers with the elegant classical allusions and rhetorical tropes with which he enriched and embellished his own productions.

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THE SEVENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

A statesman of rare integrity, and a general of invincible skill and courage, was born at Waxhaw, Lancaster county, S. C., in 1767, and while yet a mere lad, did something towards achieving the independence of his country. It is said that he commenced his military career at the age of fourteen years, and was soon

after taken prisoner, together with an elder brother. During his captivity, he was ordered by a British officer to perform some menial service, which he promptly refused, and for this refusal was "severely wounded with the sword which the Englishman disgraced." He was educated for the bar, and commenced practice at Nashville, Tenn., but relinquished his legal pursuits to "gain a name in arms. In the early part of the war of 1812, Congress having voted to accept fifty thousand volunteers, General Jackson appealed to the militia of Tennessee, when twenty-five hundred enrolled their names, and presented themselves to Congress, with Jackson at their head. They were accepted, and ordered to Natchez, to watch the operations of the British in lower Mississippi. Not long after, he received orders from headquarters to disband his men, and send them to their homes. To obey, he foresaw, would be an act of great injustice to his command, and reflect disgrace on the country, and he resolved to disobey. He accordingly broke up his camp, and returned to Nashville, bringing all his sick with him, whose wants on the way he relieved with his private means, and there disbanded his troops in the midst of their homes.

He was soon called to the field once more, and his commission marked out his course of duty on the field of Indian warfare. Here for years he labored, and fought, and diplomatized, with the most consummate wisdom and undaunted courage. It was about this time that the treaty of the "Hickory Ground" occurred, which gave him the familiar sobriquet of "Old Hickory."

The crowning glory of his whole military career was the battle of New Orleans; which will ever occupy one of the brightest pages in American history.

At the close of the war he returned to his home in Nashville; but in 1818 was again called on by his country to render his military services in the expulsion of the Seminoles. His con duct during this campaign has been both bitterly condemned and highly applauded. An attempt in the House of Represen tatives to inflict a censure on the old hero for the irregularities of this campaign, after a long and bitter debate, was defeated by a large majority.

In 1828, and again in 1832, General Jackson was elected to fill the presidential chair; thus occupying that elevated position for eight successive years. He then retired to his hospitable mansion ("the Hermitage") near Nashville, "loaded with wealth and honors, bravely won," where he continued to realize all the enjoyments that are inseparable from a well-spent life, until death translated him to those higher rewards, which "earth can neither give nor take away." He died June 8, 1845, and his last hours were soothed by a trustful reliance on the Savior of the world for salvation.

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