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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | James Brooks |
| Address |
New York, New York , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
November 10, 1810
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| Died | April 30, 1873
(62 years)
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| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | RBH
Aug 19, 2015 05:40pm |
| Tags |
Censured -
|
| Info | BROOKS, James, a Representative from New York; born in Portland, Maine, November 10, 1810; attended the public schools; attended the academy at Monmouth, Maine; taught school at sixteen years of age in Lewiston; was graduated from Waterville (Maine) College in 1831; studied law and also edited the Portland Advertiser, and in 1832 was its Washington correspondent; member of the State house of representatives in 1835; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1836 to the Twenty-fifth Congress; moved to New York City in 1836 and established the New York Daily Express, of which he was editor in chief the remainder of his life; served in the State assembly in 1847; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1853); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1852 to the Thirty-third Congress; resumed his editorial pursuits; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Thirty-ninth Congress and served from March 4, 1865, to April 7, 1866, when he was succeeded by William E. Dodge, who contested the election; elected to the Fortieth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1867, until his death; censured by the House of Representatives on February 27, 1873, for attempted bribery in connection with the Cr餩t Mobilier scandal; member of the State constitutional convention in 1867; appointed a Government director of the Union Pacific Railroad in October 1867; died in Washington, D.C., April 30, 1873; interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
James Brooks was born in Portland, Maine. His father was killed at sea in the War of 1812, leaving the family in poverty. Young Brooks had to quit public school to work for a storekeeper, but the man soon helped the lad get an education. In 1831, he graduated from Waterville College (now Colby College). He worked as a schoolteacher as he studied law and began writing for the Portland Advertiser. He passed the bar, but decided on a career in journalism. He gained public renown as a correspondent covering national politics in Washington, D. C., and for his sketches of Southern life, especially of the Creek, Cherokee, and Choctaw tribes.
In 1835, Brooks was elected to the Maine state legislature as a Whig, but failed the next year in his bid to enter Congress. He moved to New York City and in 1836 established the New York Express, described as a commercial not a political newspaper, although it backed the Whig cause. Brooks worked on William Henry Harrison?s Log Cabin campaign in 1840, was elected to the New York state assembly in 1847, and served two terms in Congress as a Whig, 1849-1853. He supported the Compromise of 1850 and in 1854 briefly identified with the Native American party before switching his allegiance to the Democratic party. He endorsed Buchanan in 1856, Douglas in 1860, and vigorously urged that the South be allowed to "depart in peace" in early 1861.
During the Civil War, Brooks was a Peace (Copperhead) Democrat and was elected to Congress in 1863. He was reelected in 1865, but his opponent successfully challenged the election, forcing Brooks to resign in early 1866. He was reelected in the fall of 1866 and remained in Congress until his death in 1873. Brooks served on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and was twice nominated by the Democrats as Speaker. As a member of the Reconstruction Committee, he condemned Republican "carpetbag" state governments in the South and insisted on a quick, lenient return of the former Confederate states to the Union. He was a leading opponent of the effort to impeach President Johnson. Brooks was appointed by Johnson as a government director of the Union Pacific Railroad, but he became involved in the Credit Mobilier scandal and was censured by the House for accepting a bribe. In 1872, while touring the world, he contracted a fever in India. The added stress of the Credit Mobilier scandal further undermined his health. Brooks died in Washington, D. C.
Robert C. Kennedy, HarpWeek
Source consulted: Dictionary of American Biography
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