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Born: November 10, 1810
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Died: April 30, 1873
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Complete HarpWeek Biography:
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
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. |
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