By Bill Federer, staff writer

On FEBRUARY 21, 1848, John Quincy Adams suffered a stroke at his desk in the House chamber, shortly after making an impassioned speech against the Democrat plan of extending slavery to the Western territories won in the Mexican-American War. He died 2 days later without regaining consciousness. A bronze marker on the floor indicates where Adams’ desk once stood, known as the “whispering spot” in Statuary Hall. John Quincy Adams was the only President to serve as a Congressman after having been President. Nicknamed Old Man Eloquent for speaking out against slavery, he offered a plan for its elimination. In 1841, John Qunicy Adams defended before the Supreme Court 53 Africans who had mutinied aboard the slave ship Amistad, gaining them their freedom. As African slaves were purchased at Muslim slave markets, John Quincy Adams wrote in his “Essay on Turks” (1829): “The natural hatred of the Mussulmen towards the infidels is … Continue Reading:American Minute Feb. 21

By Bill Federer, staff writer

The groans of a dying man kept him awake in the little inn outside New York. He was hardened to the cries because a college friend at Brown University had persuaded him to be an atheist. The next morning he learned the man who died in the night was none other than his college friend. This rude awakening led him to become one of America’s first foreign missionaries. His name was Adoniram Judson, born in Massachusetts, August 9, 1788. At age 23, and his wife 22, they sailed from New England on FEBRUARY 19, 1812, for Calcutta, India, but were forced by the British East India Tea Company to Rangoon, Burma. They preached in Burmese, translated Scriptures and started schools. Enduring hardships, Adoniram was imprisoned during the Burmese War. He later gained respect from the Burmese and British officials, translating his English-Burmese Dictionary and the Bible. By his death, there were 63 churches, … Continue Reading:American Minute Feb. 19

By Bill Federer, staff writer

 A baseball star, Billy Sunday played for the Chicago White Stockings (Sox) in the 1880′s and later the Philadelphia Phillies. Born during the Civil War in a log cabin in Iowa, his father, a Union Army soldier, died of pneumonia when Billy was a month old. At age 15, he struck out on his own, working several jobs before playing baseball. His career took off when he was recruited by A.G. Spalding, owner of the White Stockings and founder of Spalding Sporting Goods Company. Sunday became one of the most popular athletes in the nation. While leaving a Chicago saloon with some other players in 1886, he heard a group of gospel singers on the street from the Pacific Garden Mission. Attracted by the hymns he had heard his mother sing, Sunday began attending services at the mission, where he experienced a conversion. He began attending YMCA meetings, quit drinking and got … Continue Reading:American Minute Feb. 17