Henry Carter Adams
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Henry Carter Adams (December 31, 1851 – August 11, 1921) was a U.S. economist and Professor of Political Economy and finance at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
.


Early years

Adams was born in
Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...
on December 31, 1851, son of Ephraim Adams and Elizabeth S.A. Douglass, and grandson of Ephraim Adams, of
New Ipswich, New Hampshire New Ipswich is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,204 at the 2020 census. New Ipswich, situated on the Massachusetts border, includes the villages of Bank, Davis, Gibson Four Corners, Highbridge, New ...
. His father was a missionary of the " Iowa Band" from
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
. He graduated from
Iowa College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-stu ...
in 1874, now called
Grinnell College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-stu ...
, which was co-founded by his father. Adams's middle name Carter acknowledged a benefactor of Grinnell College. He was superintendent of schools at Nassau, Iowa, from 1874 to 1875, and became fellow of political economy at
Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
, from 1876 to 1889. He went to Andover Theological School in 1878, then studied at
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
,
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, and at the
Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public university, Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , a ...
in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, from 1878 to 1879. He received the degree
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
, from Johns Hopkins in 1878, and the honorary degree
LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...
from
Iowa College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-stu ...
in 1898. Adams' degree was one of the first four PhDs to be awarded by Hopkins, which opened in 1876.


Career

Adams became a lecturer at
Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, from 1880 to 1883, and associate professor of political science there, from 1883 to 1887, also lecturer on political science at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, from 1880 to 1887, and professor of political economy and finance there from 1887 until his death. He also became a lecturer at the Johns Hopkins University from 1880 to 1882. While at Cornell, he delivered an address on "The Labor Problem," which resulted in his dismissal from the Cornell faculty when a critic accused him of "sapping the foundations of our society." In his first year at Michigan he becoming head of the newly created Department of Economics. "For him economics was more than a study of data and statistics; he saw it as the very bone and sinews of our national life...."University of Michigan
The Michigan Alumnus 12
/ref> At Michigan, he also worked with
John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...
. He was appointed
statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...
of the
Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...
in 1887 and was in charge of the transportation department in the eleventh U.S. Census, 1890. He was elected a member of the
International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...
, was president of the American Economic Association, from 1895 to 1897, vice-president of the
American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest continuousl ...
, secretary of the Michigan Political Science Association, and served as associate editor of the
International Journal of Ethics ''Ethics: An International Journal of Social, Political, and Legal Philosophy'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1890 as the ''International Journal of Ethics'', renamed in 1938, and published since 1923 by the University of C ...
.


Personal life

In 1890, he married Bertha Wright of
Port Huron Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administered separately. Located along the St. Clair ...
and they had three sons, Henry Carter Adams Jr., later with the
International Mercantile Marine The International Mercantile Marine Company, originally the International Navigation Company, was a trust formed in the early twentieth century as an attempt by J.P. Morgan to monopolize the shipping trade. IMM was founded by shipping magnates ...
at
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, Dr. Theodore W. Adams, later on the staff of Doctor Reuben Peterson, and Thomas H. Adams, a senior in the University of Michigan. Adams died on August 11, 1921, in
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...
.


Works

He published: * ''Lectures on Political Economy'' (1881) * ''History of Taxation in the United States, 1789 to 1816'' (1884) * ''Public Debts'' (1887) * ''The State in Relation to Industrial Action'' (1887) * ''Relation of American Municipalities to Quasi-Public Works'' (1888) * ''The Science of Finance'' (1888), which was later translated into the
Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...
. * ''Statistics of Railways in the United States'' (6 vols., 1888–1898) * ''Economics and Jurisprudence'' (1897) *
Description of Industry: An Introduction to Economics
' (1918)


References

Attribution * *


External links

* *
University of Michigan biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Henry Carter 1851 births 1921 deaths People from Davenport, Iowa Grinnell College alumni Andover Newton Theological School alumni Heidelberg University alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni Cornell University faculty University of Michigan faculty Economists from Iowa Presidents of the American Economic Association American expatriates in Germany School superintendents in Iowa