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Charles Francis Adams (1807–1886): A Forgotten Family Man of Letters
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2009
Extract
In any catalogue of famous American families, the Adams name takes second place to none. John and John Quincy Adams were first and second generation Presidents, and in the fourth generation Charles Francis Jr., Brooks, and Henry Adams all gained renown as historians and writers. Upon closer study, however, the story of the Adamses presents us with something more significant than an example of sequential biography; rather, it suggests a fascinating historical and literary problem. For what began as a political dynasty endured three generations later as a family literary society, effectively divorced from the exercise of those powers which had once appeared to be a birthright. A dramatic transition from political leadership to literary notoriety had been completed; and this change symbolized the alteration in Adams family fortunes between 1828 and 1920. Even as it was taking place, moreover, this shift in the nature and character of family activities and attainments puzzled and sometimes tortured those members of the third and fourth generations who felt themselves being made the victims of the change. Brooks Adams, for example, shows his anguished response in ‘The Heritage of Henry Adams’ and Law of Civilization and Decay; and Henry Adams registers his own surprise and cool horror when he contemplates the fate of the Adamses in The Education of Henry Adams.
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References
1 The standard biography, Duberman, Martin's Charles Francis Adams: 1807–1886 (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1960)Google Scholar, provides a good account of Adams's political career; my aim in this essay is to supplement Professor Duberman's work by drawing attention to Charles Francis Adams's achievements in literature.
2 The Diary of Charles Francis Adams (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1964, 1968)Google Scholar. Vols. 1 and 11 were edited by Aïda DiPace Donald and David Donald; III and IV by Marc Friedlaender and L. H. Butterfield, all as volumes of The Adams Papers.
3 ‘Introduction’, Diary of Charles Francis Adams (hereafter CFA Diary), vol. 1, p. xv.Google Scholar
4 The family chronicle begins in The Earliest Diary of John Adams (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1966)Google Scholar and includes the private diaries of John Quincy and Charles Francis Adams. The sons of the fourth generation, such as Henry, who pursued the diary habit early in their lives, did not persist.
5 I have previously discussed the diaries of John and John Quincy Adams in two essays, ‘John Adams’ Private Voice: The Diary and Autobiography' and ‘John Quincy Adams and His Diary’, Tulane Studies in English (1967, 1970).Google Scholar
6 Letter, Charles Francis Adams II to Henry Adams, 15 April 1895, quoted in CFA Diary, vol. 1, p. xv.
7 Ibid. See also The Education of Henry Adams (Boston, Houghton, 1918).Google Scholar
8 ‘Of all the Adams diarists, Charles Francis was the most methodical and thorough.’ ‘Introduction’, CFA Diary, vol. I, p. xxxiv.
9 CFA Diary, vol. I, p. 106.Google Scholar
10 CFA Diary, vol. II, p. 345.Google Scholar
11 Letter, Charles Francis Adams to Abigail Brown Brooks, 13 May 1827, quoted in ‘Introduction’, CFA Diary, vol. I, p. xxx.Google Scholar
12 See Duberman, , p. 41.Google Scholar
13 CFA Diary, vol. 1, p. 130.Google Scholar
14 Ibid., pp. 314–15.
15 Letter, John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 1 January 1828, quoted in ‘Introduction’, CFA Diary, vol. 1, p. xviii.Google Scholar
16 Ibid., p. 315.
17 See ‘Introduction’, CFA Diary, The Education of Henry Adams, and Duberman, Google Scholar. Professor Peter Shaw also has discussed the important relationship between Charles Francis Adams and his father. Like John Quincy, Charles recognized that restrained expression must sometimes give way to outright omission. Thus, a reader of the Diary is left to ponder over such a tantalizing but uninformative entry as: ‘A conversation with my father, the nature of which is not for this Journal.’ See Shaw's review essay, ‘The Apprenticeship of Charles Francis Adams’, The American Scholar (1969), pp. 312–22.Google Scholar
18 CFA Diary, vol. 1, p. 318.Google Scholar
19 Ibid., p. 319.
20 CFA Diary, vol. III, pp. 238–9.Google Scholar
21 CFA Diary, vol. II, p. 50.Google Scholar
22 CFA Diary, vol. III, p. 359.Google Scholar
23 Adams, John, Diary and Autobiography, ed. Butterfield, (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1961), vol. III, pp. 253–4.Google Scholar
24 Adams, John Quincy, in a diary entry for 5 August 1829Google Scholar, showed his intention of writing a full biography of John Adams: ‘I began upon the collection of minutes and memoranda preparatory to the biographical memoir of my father. I propose to devote henceforth three hours a day to that portion of my business.’ (The Diary of John Quincy Adams, ed. Nevins, Allan (New York, Longmans, Green, 1928), p. 397.)Google Scholar His methodical programme failed to yield substantial results, although John Quincy returned to the biographical task in 1832 and 1839. Finally, his contributions to the Life of John Adams which Charles Francis Adams published may be described as: ‘the preliminary genealogy, and the first two chapters …’ Charles wrote the remainder. See Adams, Charles Francis, ‘Preface’, The Works of John Adams (Boston, Little, 1856), vol. 1, p. v.Google Scholar
25 CFA Diary, vol. II, pp. 311, 313, n. 1.Google Scholar
26 Duberman, , p. 40.Google Scholar
27 CFA Diary, vol. II, p. 66.Google Scholar
28 ‘Preface’, The Life of John Adams (1871 ed.), pp. viii–ix.Google Scholar
29 Duberman, . p. 66.Google Scholar
30 ‘Memoir’, Letters of Mrs Adams, The Wife of John Adams (3rd ed., Boston, Little, 1841), pp. xvi–xviii.Google Scholar
31 Ibid., p. xxii.
32 Ibid.
33 ‘Memoir’, Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution (Boston, Houghton, 1875), p. v.Google Scholar
34 The Education of Henry Adams, pp. 26–7.Google Scholar
35 Adams, Charles Francis, ‘Preface’, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams (Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1874–1877), vol. 1, p. ixGoogle Scholar. In the best-informed discussion of Charles Francis Adams's editorial abilities as yet offered, Mr Lyman H. Butterfield, Editor-in-Chief of the Adams Papers, credits the third-generation archivist-editor with a ‘critical’ approach which displays conscientious citation of sources and balanced selection of materials, including those damaging to the reputations of the earlier Adamses. Charles's editorial methods and techniques, what ever problems they introduce by avoidance of chronological arrangement, keep the emphasis upon the texts. They reduce annotation to secondary importance and place the editor behind the scenes. Overall, Charles Francis Adams was far ahead of normal editorial practice in his day. A modern reader cannot, however, escape the feeling that Charles used family papers guardedly and with special care. See Duberman, , pp. 462, 510Google Scholar and the ‘Introduction’ to Adams, John, Diary and AutobiographyGoogle Scholar in Series I of The Adams Papers.
36 CFA Diary, vol. II, p. 146.Google Scholar