This well-known phrase has repeatedly been applied to John Quincy Adams (1767–1848).
1848. Let not the grave of the old man eloquent be desecrated by unfriendly remembrances, but let us yield our homage to his many virtues.—Mr. Davis of Massachusetts, U.S. Senate, Feb. 24, on the occasion of Mr. Adams’s death: Cong. Globe, p. 388.
1849. [They] recollected with what ability, with what earnestness and power, that “old man eloquent” defended himself against the assaults of those who attacked him.—Mr. Thompson of Indiana, House of Repr., Jan. 25: id., p. 368.
1861. I will not stand upon this floor speaking, as the old man eloquent once said, “that the nation may hear.”—Mr. Roscoe Conkling of New York, House of Repr., July 29: id., p. 327/2.
