Abijah Adams (1754May 18, 1816) was a journalist who frequently found himself involved in controversies. He was born in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
.
He was trained as a tailor, and married Lucy Ballard in 1790. In 1799, he took a job with the newspaper the ''Independent Chronicle'', a
Jeffersonian newspaper controlled by his brother, Thomas Adams. That year he was convicted of libel against the
Federalist
The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''.
History Europe federation
In Europe, proponents of de ...
-controlled state government for his role in the newspaper's vocal opposition to the
Alien and Sedition Acts. He was sentenced to thirty days in jail. The following year, he was promoted to the position of editor, which he shared with Ebenezer Rhodes. In 1811, he received a conviction for libel arising from his comments on the conduct in office of
Theophilus Parsons, who was at the time the
Chief Justice of the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the court of last resort, highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the di ...
, but was later pardoned. He died in 1816.
References
*"
Contemporary Opinion of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...
",
F. M. Anderson. ''The American Historical Review'', Vol. 5,
62–63,
225–28.
*''Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607–1896.'' Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1963.
1754 births
1816 deaths
People from colonial Boston
18th-century American people
19th-century American journalists
American tailors
American male journalists
19th-century American male writers
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