James Hopkins Adams
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James Hopkins Adams (March 15, 1812 – July 13, 1861) was an American politician from South Carolina. He served in the South Carolina Legislature and was the 66th governor of the state.
[edit] Biography
Adams was born in Minervaville, South Carolina, in 1812 to Henry Walker Adams and Mary Goodwyn Adams. He graduated from Yale University in 1831. In 1832 he joined the South Carolina Nullification Convention which deliberated until 1833 on whether states could nullify federal laws. He was an opponent of nullification.
He was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1834 to 1837, 1840 to 1841, and 1848 to 1849. In 1850, he was elected to the South Carolina Senate, where he stayed through 1853. He served as a brigadier general of the South Carolina Militia.
In 1854, Adams was elected the 66th Governor of South Carolina, a position he held through 1857. In 1856, he recommended a resumption of the foreign slave trade as a way of eliminating illicit trade. The legislature rejected this proposal.
He signed the articles of secession for South Carolina, and served as a member of the commission to the United States government to negotiate the transfer of United States property in South Carolina to the state government.
He married Jane Margaret Scott in April 1832, and they had 11 children. He died in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1861, and his remains were buried in Congaree, South Carolina.
[edit] References
"Adams, James Hopkins". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.- SCIway Biography of James Hopkins Adams
- NGA Biography of James Hopkins Adams
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Lawrence Manning |
Governor of South Carolina 1854–1856 |
Succeeded by Robert Francis Withers Allston |
