the Sacramento River, into which it empties a little above Sacramento City. Gold has been frequently found along its banks.
AMERICAN SYCAMORE. See Plane.
AMERICAN SYS'TEM. See Tariff.
AMERICAN U'NIVER'SITY. An institution
of higher learning for post-graduate study
under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, situated at Washington, D. C. It was
chartered in 1893, and the plans include a series
of colleges, specializing respectively in history,
language, and literature, philosophy, the several
sciences, technology, sociology, and economics,
law, civics, medicine, art, and comparative religion.
The plan of organization provided that
for entrance to all courses, the bachelor's degree,
or its equivalent in scholarship, should be required.
The assets in 1901 amounted to $1,600,000.
Chancellor, 1901, John F. Hurst, D.D.,
LL.D.
AMERICAN WINE. See Wine.
AMER'ICUS. A city and the county seat of
Sumter Co., Ga., 70 miles south-southwest of
Macon, at the junction of the Central of Georgia,
and Georgia and Alabama railroads (Map:
Georgia, B 3). It is in a cotton and sugar-cane
district, and has chemical works, iron foundry,
and machine shops. The city owns and operates
its water works. Americus was settled in 1832,
incorporated 1SS5. and is governed by a charter
of 1889, which places the mayor's term at two
years, and provides for a city council of six,
elected on a general ticket, with full power of
appointments. Pop., 1890, 6398; 1900, 7674.
AMERIGHI, a'ma-re'ge, Michelangelo.
See Caravaggio.
AMERIGO VESPUCCI, ä′m-re'go ves-poo'-che.
See Vesitcius, Ahekicus.
AM'ERIND. A name suggested as a designation
for the American Indians (including the
Eskimo and the Fuegians), as distinguished
from the natives of India and the adjacent regions.
It is compounded from the two words,
American and Indian, and originated with Major
J. W. Powell, Director of the Bureau of American
Ethnology.
AMERLING, ä′mẽr-lǐng, Friedrich (1803-87).
An Austrian painter, born at Vienna. He
studied there and at London, Paris, and Munich,
and went to Italy in 1831. Upon his return he
painted a portrait of the Emperor Franz I., and
from that time was the most prominent of Austrian
portrait painters. His portraits number
not far from a thousand, and are distinguished
by brilliant coloring, but sometimes fail of
definiteness in characterization. Consult: Bodenstein,
Hundert Jahre Kunstgeschichte Wiens
(Vienna, 1888) ; and for his life, Frankl (Vienna,
1889).
AMERSFOORT, ä′mẽrz-fört. An ancient
town in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands,
15 miles nortleast of Utrecht on the Fern, which
flows into the Zuyder Zee (Map: Neherlands,
D 2) The town is situated in a fertile plain, at
the foot of sandy hills. Tobacco Is much grown
in the district, and cotton and woolen goods,
leather, soap, beer, etc.. are manufactured. The
Catholic church of St. Mary, built in the fourteenth
century, has a Gothic tower 308 feet
high, considered the finest in Holland. There
is also a college of Jansenists in the town, it
being one of the chief seats of this sect, which
does not now exist outside of Holland. Pop.,
1890, 15,500; 1900, 19,000.
AMES. A city in Story Co., la., 37 miles
north of Des Moines, on the Chicago and Northwestern
Railroad (Map: Iowa, D 3). It is the
seat of the State Agricultural College, which has
a plant covering some 900 acres. The electric
light plant is owned and operated by the municipality.
Pop., 1890, 1276; 1900, 2422.
AMES, Adelbert (1835—). An American
soldier. He was born at Rockland, Me., and
graduated at West Point in 1801. He was
wounded at the first battle of Bull Run, and afterward
served with distinction at Malvern Hill,
Antietam, Fredericksburg. Chancellorsville, Gettysburg,
and Petersburg. He was brevetted
(March 13, 1865) major-general of volunteers for
conduct at Fort Fisher, and on July 28, 1866, became
a lieutenant-colonel in the regular army.
He was afterward Provisional Governor of Mississippi
from 1868 to 1869, and was commandant of
the Fourth Military District (including Mississippi)
from 1869 to 1870, and was a United States
senator from 1870 to 1873, when, in spite of the
white population, he became Governor of Mississippi
by popular election. His administration
of affairs soon antagonized the whites, who accused
him of favoritism to the negro population,
and a bitter race war ensued, culminating in the
Vicksburg riot of December 7, 1874. and in
numerous minor conflicts between Democrats and
Republicans. Finally, in 1876, the Democrats
having secured a majority in the Legislature,
Ames was impeached, and resigned on condition
that the charges against him be withdrawn. (See
article on Mississippi.) He then removed to
New York, and. later, to Lowell, Mass., and
during the Spanish-American War served as
brigadier-general of volunteers.
AMES, Fisher (1758-1808). An American
orator and Congressman. He was born at Dedham,
Mass., April 9, 1758. He graduated at
Harvard in 1774, began the practice of law in
1781, and soon became favorably known through
his trenchant newspaper articles in condemnation
of Shays's Rebellion (q.v.) and in favor of
a strong government. This local reputation was
increased by his efforts in favor of the Federal
constitution in the Massachusetts Convention of
1788, the immediate result of which was his
election to Congress, where he served for eight
years, becoming known especially as an accomplished
public speaker. In his later years he
served in the Massachusetts Council, delivered
a eulogy on Washington before the Legislature,
and produced a number of essays: but he took no
part in active politics. In 1804 he declined the
presidency of Harvard. He died July 4. 1808.
A single volume of his Works was published in
Boston (1809), and later his son, Seth Ames,
edited his writings and speeches in more extended
form, with a memoir by J. T. Kirkland
(Boston. 1854).
AMES, James Barr (1846—). An eminent
American educator and legal scholar. He was
born in Boston, graduated in 1868 at Harvard
and in 1872 at the Law School of the University,
in 1868–69 was an instructor in a private school
at Boston, and from 1871 to 1872 was tutor in
German and French at Harvard. In the same
institution he was appointed successively instructor
in history (1872), associate professor of law
(1873), and professor of law (1877). In 1895
