James Truslow Adams
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James Truslow Adams (October 18, 1878 – May 18, 1949) was an American writer and
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
. He was a freelance author who helped to popularize the latest scholarship about American history and his three-volume history of
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 ...
is well regarded by scholars. He popularized the phrase " American Dream" in his 1931 book ''The Epic of America''.


Early life

Adams was born in
Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, to a wealthy family, the son of Elizabeth Harper (née Truslow) and
stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks an ...
William Newton Adams Jr. His father had been born in
Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...
,
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. His paternal grandfather, William Newton Adams Sr., was American of
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
descent with roots in
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and his paternal grandmother, Carmen Michelena de Salias, a Venezuelan of Spanish descent back to
Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...
in the eighteenth century and a family from
Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
. The earliest paternal ancestor was Francis Adams from England, an indentured servant who settled the Province of Maryland in 1638. Adams took his bachelor's degree from the
New York University Tandon School of Engineering The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...
(then
Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...
) in 1898, and a MA degree from
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in 1900. He entered investment banking, rising to partner in a
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
member firm. In 1912, he considered his savings ample enough to switch to a career as a writer. In 1917, he served with
Colonel House Edward Mandell House (July 26, 1858 – March 28, 1938) was an American diplomat, and an adviser to President Woodrow Wilson. He was known as Colonel House, although his rank was honorary and he had performed no military service. He was a highl ...
on President Wilson's commission, "
The Inquiry The Inquiry was a study group established in September 1917 by Woodrow Wilson to prepare materials for the peace negotiations following World War I. The group, composed of around 150 academics, was directed by the presidential adviser Edward Hou ...
", to prepare data for the Paris Peace Conference. By 1918, he was a captain in the Military Intelligence Division of the
General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...
of the U.S. Army. By late 1918, he was selected for the U.S. delegation to the Paris Peace Conference. His main task consisted in the provision of maps and the selection of plans and atlases that should be acquired by the
War College A war college is a senior military academy which is normally intended for veteran military officers and whose purpose is to educate and 'train on' senior military tacticians, strategists, and leaders. It is also often the place where advanced tact ...
, the
American Geographical Society The American Geographical Society (AGS) is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the ...
, and the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
.


Writer

Adams gained national attention with his trilogy on the history of New England (1921–26), winning the Pulitzer Prize for the first volume. Scholars welcomed his social history of the colonial era, ''Provincial Society, 1690–1763'' (1927). He wrote popular books and magazine articles in a steady stream. His ''Epic of America'' was an international bestseller, and was included in Life Magazine's list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924–1944. He was also the editor of a scholarly multi-volume ''Dictionary of American History''. Adams was the editor, with Roy V. Coleman as managing editor, of ''The Atlas of American History'' (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1943), and ''The Album of American History,'' 4 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1944).


American Dream

Adams coined the term " American Dream" in his 1931 book '' The Epic of America''. His American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." However, Adams felt the American Dream was in peril during the 1920s and 30s. He complained that "money making and material improvements . . . mere extensions of the material basis of existence", had gained ascendancy, becoming "goods in themselves . . . imickingthe aspects of moral virtues." The original American Dream had always been about "quality and spiritual values": "The American dream that has lured tens of millions of all nations to our shores in the past century has not been a dream of merely material plenty, although that has doubtless counted heavily. It has been much more than that." He warned that "in our struggle to 'make a living'" we were neglecting "to live". ''The Epic of America'' was his attempt to save a "priceless heritage", and sustain the distinctly American understanding of progress in humane and moral terms. The true American Dream was of "a genuine individual search and striving for the abiding values of life", and for the "common man to rise to full stature" in the free realms of "communal spiritual and intellectual life."


Two educations

A quote from one of Adams' essays "There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live" is widely misattributed to
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
. The quote is part of an essay by Adams entitled "To 'Be' or to 'Do': A Note on American Education" which appeared in the June, 1929 issue of ''Forum''. The essay is very critical of American education, both in school and at the university level, and explores the role of American culture and class-consciousness in forming that system of education. In a more complete version of that quote, Adams says:
There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live. Surely these should never be confused in the mind of any man who has the slightest inkling of what culture is. For most of us it is essential that we should make a living ... In the complications of modern life and with our increased accumulation of knowledge, it doubtless helps greatly to compress some years of experience into far fewer years by studying for a particular trade or profession in an institution; but that fact should not blind us to another—namely, that in so doing we are learning a trade or a profession, but are not getting a liberal education as human beings.


Death

Adams lived in
Southport, Connecticut Southport is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Fairfield, Connecticut. It is located along Long Island Sound between Mill River and Sasco Brook, where it borders Westport. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 1,710. Settle ...
, where he died of a heart attack.


Honors

After 1930, Adams was active in the
American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
serving as both chancellor and treasurer of that organization. He was also a member of the
National Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
, the Massachusetts Historical Society,
American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...
,
American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...
, and the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
. Among British societies, he was honored as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.


Bibliography

* ;
Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history ...
* ''Revolutionary New England'' (1923); * ''New England in the Republic, 1776-1850'' (1926) * ''Provincial Society, 1690-1763'' (1927) * ''Our Business Civilization: Some Aspects of American Culture'' (1929) * ''The Adams Family'' (1930); Kessinger Publishing, 2005, * ''The Epic of America'' (1931); Simon Publications 2001 paperback: ; * '' The March of Democracy'' (2 vols. 1932–1933) * ''Justice Without'' (1933) * ''Henry Adams'' (1933) * ''America's Tragedy'' (1934) * ''The Record of America'' (1935) * ''Building the British Empire: To the End of the First Empire'' (1938) * Adams wrote 21 monographs between 1916 and 1945. He was also editor in chief of the ''Dictionary of American History'', ''The Atlas of American History'', and other volumes.


References


Sources

* McCracken, M. J., comp. "Another Bibliography of James Truslow Adams." ''Bulletin of Bibliography'' 15 (May 1934):65-68. * Nevins, Allan. ''James Truslow Adams: Historian of the American Dream.'' (1968) * Nenes, Allan (ed.), ''James Truslow Adams: Select Correspondence.'' Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2012. * Porter, K. W. "Negro in American Life: A Reply to J.T. Adams' Interpretation in His Book The American." ''Journal of Negro History'' 29 (April 1944):209-20. * Taylor, C. James. "James Truslow Adams." In ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'', vol. 17: ''Twentieth-Century American Historians,'' 3–8. Ed. by Clyde N. Wilson. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research Company, 1983. * Who's Who on the Web, s.v. "Adams, James Truslow" (n.p.:
Marquis Who's Who Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...
, 2005)
Library of Congress Website
* To "Be" or to "DO" by JAMES TRUSLOW ADAMS;Forum (1886-1930); Jun 1929; VOL. LXXXI, NO. 6,; APS Online, pg. 321


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, James Truslow 1878 births 1949 deaths American biographers American male biographers American male essayists American people of Basque descent American people of Venezuelan descent Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Historians from New York (state) Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters People from Southport, Connecticut Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni Pulitzer Prize for History winners Writers from Brooklyn Writers from Connecticut Yale University alumni