Frederick Upham Adams (December 10, 1859 – August 28, 1921) was an American inventor, writer, editor, and political organizer. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of an

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

veteran and mechanical engineer. He died on August 28, 1921, at

Larchmont, New York Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village was 5,864 at the 2010 census. In February 2019, Bloomberg ranked Lar ...

. In 1886, he invented the electric light post. Late in 1896 Adams wrote a social reform novel published by Charles H. Kerr & Company of Chicago. He was co-editor of the monthly reform magazine ''The New Time'' in 1897 and 1898. He wrote exclusively for the magazine, which was also published by Kerr, according to the publisher mid-1897.(Advertisement)
Charles H. Kerr & Company. One back page of ''President John Smith: The Story of a Peaceful Revolution (Written in 1920)''. Chicago: Kerr. New edition of ''President John Smith: The Story of a Peaceful'' as Library of Progress, No. 24, August 1897. Digital copy at HathiTrust retrieved 2016-10-19. Adams was one of the principle organizers of a short-lived political organization called The Majority Rule League of the United States. Part of the platform of this organization was that

majority rule Majority rule is a principle that means the decision-making power belongs to the group that has the most members. In politics, majority rule requires the deciding vote to have majority, that is, more than half the votes. It is the binary deci ...

of the people should prevail and that corporate entities and especially

monopolies A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

should be taken out of national politics. On the title page of a January 1898 pamphlet by Adams which outlines the "platform" of The Majority Rule League of the United States ("Drafted After Wide Correspondence"), is a brief statement of purpose, to wit: "A plan for a permanent organization of the people in their respective precincts with a view of substituting direct legislation by majority vote for the existing system of corporation legislation by purchased vote."

Books

* ''President John Smith: The Story of a Peaceful Revolution'' (Chi.: Charles H. Kerr & Co, 1897), ; reprinted as ''President John Smith'' (1971) * ''The Majority Rule League of the United States : Drafted After Wide Correspondence", Unity Library No. 78, (Charles H. Kerr & Company, Chicago, January 1898) (30 page stapled pamphlet, setting forth Majority Rule League of the United States platform and organizational tenets) * ''The Kidnapped Millionaires: A Tale of Wall Street and the Tropics'' (Bos.: Lothrop Publ Co, 1901) * ''John Burt'' (Phi.: D. Biddle, 1903) * ''John Henry Smith: A Humorous Romance of Outdoor Life'', illustrated for Mr. Smith by

A. B. Frost Arthur Burdett Frost (January 17, 1851 – June 22, 1928), usually cited as A. B. Frost, was an American illustrator, graphic artist, painter and comics writer. He is best known for his illustrations of Brer Rabbit and other characters i ...

(Doubleday, Page & Company, 1905), * ''The Bottom of the Well'' (NY: G. W. Dillingham Co, 1906) * ''The Conquest of the Tropics: The Story of the Creative Enterprises Conducted by the United Fruit Company'' (Doubleday, Romance of Big Business no. 1, 1914)

References

*Johnson, Allen, ed. ''Dictionary of American Biography''. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Frederick Upham 1859 births 1921 deaths Writers from Boston People from Larchmont, New York