A Reexamination of Brooks and Henry on John Quincy Adams

Abstract

IN the early igoos Brooks Adams wrote a biography of his grandfather. In it he portrayed John Quincy Adams as a paragon of virtue, wisdom, and foresight, a man who was distinguished by intense patriotism and an aggressive attitude toward America's enemies. Brooks sent the manuscript to his brother Henry for comments and found to his surprise that Henry had a very different image of John Quincy. Neither brother could convince the other, and the resulting stalemate induced Brooks to suppress his biography. Never readily turned aside from an objective, however, Brooks revived John Quincy in two long essays that he wrote after Henry's death. preface to the 1919 edition of Emancipation of Massachusetts and The Heritage of Henry Adams, an introduction to a collection of Henry's scientific essays, present two different images of John Quincy: as an idealistic philosopher in the guise of Moses and as a man of science, forerunner of his scientifically talented grandson Henry.l career of John Quincy Adams provided a lens through which Henry and Brooks looked back upon their nation and family. Their