Summary Information
Henry Cullen Adams Papers
1870-1906
- Adams, Henry Cullen, 1850-1906
Wis Mss IA
1.2 c.f. (4 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of Henry Cullen Adams, who represented Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District, 1903-1906, primarily consisting of correspondence and speeches. The papers focus on Adams' three congressional election campaigns and include only scant material about his pre-Congressional career and his legislative accomplishments. There is some information on his work for the enactment of the federal Grout Bill taxing oleomargarine, Arizona-New Mexico Joint Statehood Bill, Philippine Tariff measure, fight against food adulteration, Adams bill to aid agricultural experiment stations, and his opposition to the dictatorial methods of Speaker Joseph G. Cannon. Adams support for agriculture appears most prominently in correspondence with William D. Hoard and officers of the National Dairy Union, and in speeches. The campaign correspondence is exceptionally frank and informative and includes exchanges with many local supporters, district campaign head Grant Thomas, Henry Casson, Elisha W. Keyes, and Joseph W. Babcock of the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. The papers include a typescript copy of Mrs. Adams account of the 1905 congressional tour of inspection to Alaska. Ben C. Adams, Henry's brother, is represented by one speech and numerous political letters.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-wis000ia ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
From the Dictionary of American Biography (article written by Harvey W. Wiley):
Adams, Henry Cullen (Nov. 28, 1850-July 9, 1906), congressman, was born in Oneida County, N.Y., the son of Caroline Shepard and Benjamin Franklin Adams, a professor of the classical languages in Hamilton College. During his early youth the family moved to southern Wisconsin. The boy, who was never vigorous, grew up in the midst of farm influences and thus acquired the devotion to the fields which was the leit motif of his whole life. Educated in country schools, he entered Albion College for one year and then spent three years in the University of Wisconsin. His fragile health gave way under the stress of study. On the advice of his physician he left and went to Colorado, where his health temporarily improved. On Oct. 15, 1878 he married Anne Burkley Norton, great-grand daughter of Mary Smith, sister of Abigail Smith, the wife of President John Adams. Returning to his father's farm near Madison, Wis., he entered with enthusiasm into farm life. He was a leader in farmers' institutes under the auspices of the Wisconsin Agricultural College and became president of the State Horticultural Society and of the Dairymen's Association of Wisconsin. He was a member of the state legislature for two terms [1883-1885] and was Dairy and Food Commissioner from 1895 to 1902. In the latter year he was elected to Congress by a plurality of 3,034 votes; in 1904 he was reelected by a plurality of 7,508. January, 1902 found him in Washington lobbying in the interests of the National Dairy union for the last-named bill. Whether or not this insight into the making of Federal laws stimulated in him a desire for a political career is not revealed in the papers. At any rate, immediately after the passage of the act he returned to Wisconsin to engage in a strenuous campaign for the position of Congressman from the Second District. This was a crucial period in Wisconsin politics. Robert M. La Follette had won election as governor on the republican ticket but he and his followers had not divorced themselves from the ranks of the Party. There was still nominally only one Republican party in the State and one Republican convention, and there were still party men who hoped for a restoration of harmony.
Adams was one of those who tried to avoid aligning himself with either the stalwart or half-breed faction, but instead he sought support from farmer friends, regardless of politics. The correspondence carries through the exhausting details of the old nominating system, when caucuses elected delegates to the county conventions which in turn elected delegates to the state convention which nominated candidates for the party. He won the nomination over his stalwart opponent, Herman B. Dahle; his election was a foregone conclusion; and in 1904 he was returned for a second term.
In Congress Adams continued his fight against food adulturation. He urged the passage of a national act which would at least confine the evils to separate states, leaving them to regulate conditions within their own borders. The enactment of the Pure Food and Drugs Act of June 60, 1906, ten days before his death must have afforded him deep satisfaction. He also took an active part in effecting harmony between the advocates of the Meat Inspection bill and the packers who objected to governmental interference with their industry. A measure that brought him wide publicity and popularity was the Adams Act for increased appropriation for agricultural experiment stations. Messages of congratulation poured in upon him from agriculturists in every state when the bill was passed early in 1906. His name, wrote one of his enthusiastic admirers, would be placed beside that of Morrill and Hatch as a benefactor of agriculture.
Probably no matter engaged more of his time than the agitation over the Arizona-New Mexico joint statehood bill. He was a member of a delegation that visited the territory before Congress convened in December 1905, and became convinced that joint statehood was not only a contravention of the rights of the inhabitants but a political outrage forced upon the West by the East. Having served his “period of silence” he felt free to voice his protests against the powerful pressure brought to bear to pass the bill. This brought him into conflict with the administration and particularly Speaker Cannon, then at the zenith of his autocratic power. In letters to his friends Adams vividly describes some of the circuitous methods employed to secure action, and expresses his disgust at being compelled to curry favor to secure recognition on the floor of the House. In other measures, notably the opposition to reduction of the Philippine tariff, he voted with his party.
Important as these matters were, Adams was often compelled to subordinate them to affairs in his home state. Anyone familiar with Wisconsin politics will recognize the difficulty of remaining neutral in the year of the Opera House Convention. However, the “two-horse rider” after the Supreme Court's recognition of the La Follette delegates as the legal ones, endorsed and supported the La Follette platform and won reelection in 1904.
But more and more the inevitability of a cleavage became apparent. “I realize that a bitter fight is coming unto you just as it has to Babcock,” wrote one of his friends in the fall of 1904. From the very beginning of the long session of 1905-06 rumors of a serious competitor for his seat, John A. Nelson, began to appear. The correspondence of the following months notes the certain development of his rival's strength and the confirmation of suspicions that he was being backed by Senator La Follette. Adams stayed at his post in Washington, meantime attempting a long distance campaign. Never physically strong, he could not endure the strain, and died in Chicago enroute to Madison on July 9,1906.
Scope and Content Note
The Adams papers consist primarily of letters received and the replies made to them. During his absence in Washington Adams maintained a close correspondence with Governor Hoard, E. W. Keyes, Grant Thomas, Henry Casson, and many others. His own letters indicate a ready command of the English language and a keen sense of humor that no doubt account in part for his popularity. His political credo may be found in one of the many addresses of the collection, “The Insurgents,” delivered before the Wisconsin Club of New York City in February, 1906.
There is little manuscript material in the collection for the years before 1902. A few letters dated 1896 give glimpses of Mark A. Hanna's preliminary skirmishes in the McKinley campaign and of local conflicts within the Republican ranks. As indicated in the biographical sketch above, Adams was deeply absorbed during these years in the promotion of the dairy industry. Besides carrying on his official duties, he was instrumental in effecting the passage of two acts, the Wisconsin anti-filled cheese law and the Federal Grout bill which placed a heavy tax on oleomargarine.
Most of the collection's contents concern the topics detailed in the biographical notes above. There is no manuscript material on the Meat Inspection bill.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Mabel Adams, Oct. 1933, and by Ben C. Adams, 1947 and 1957.
Contents List
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Correspondence
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Box
1
Folder
1-8
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1870-1904
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Box
2
Folder
1-8
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1905-1906 April
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Box
3
Folder
1-4
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1906 May-December, undated
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Speeches and writings
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Box
4
Folder
1-5
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Henry Cullen Adams, 1880s-1906, undated
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Box
4
Folder
6
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Ben C. Adams, undated
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Box
4
Folder
7
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Recollections of Alaska inspection trip, 1905, by Mrs. Adams
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