The Education of Henry Adams · Chapter
XXII: Chicago (1893) explained
Henry Adams reflects on his solitude in the 1890s, his withdrawal from society, and his observations of the political and economic shifts culminating in the 1893 Silver Act repeal and the adoption of the gold standard.
What happens
Henry Adams reflects on his solitude in the 1890s, his withdrawal from society, and his observations of the political and economic shifts culminating in the 1893 Silver Act repeal and the adoption of the gold standard. He travels with Senator Cameron's family to South Carolina, Havana, Chicago for the Exposition, and Europe, and later witnesses the Congressional debate that solidifies the capitalistic system, marking the end of his resistance to modern industrial forces.
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Identity
Adams reflects on the extinction of his own class (the Boston Brahmin elite) by the new capitalistic system, and his social isolation from Washington society.
Power and Force
The chapter describes the 'mechanical consolidation of force' that stamps out older ways of life, and the political power of banks and capital over the majority.
Historical Determinism and Chaos
Adams questions whether the American people know where they are driving, and sees history as a mechanical sequence beyond individual control.
Education and Self-Formation
Adams's education is described as 'misdirected' and incomplete; he feels helpless before the forces of history and economics.
Characters to notice
- Henry Adams
Narrator and protagonist; reflects on his solitude, social withdrawal, and political disillusionment during the 1890s.
- John Hay
One of the few houses Adams could enter without being asked; part of the Republican social circle.
- Henry Cabot Lodge
Another house Adams frequented; part of the intimate Republican circle with Cameron and Hay.
- Simon Cameron
Senator from Pennsylvania; Adams travels with his family and observes the Cameron type; key figure in the silver debate.
- Theodore Roosevelt
Mentioned as equally at home in the Cameron, Hay, and Lodge houses.
- Grover Cleveland
President during the 1893 extra session; Adams saw him little.
- Thomas B. Reed
Mentioned as a society favorite Adams did not know.
- Whitelaw Reid
Mentioned as W. C. Whitney, an old acquaintance of the reforming era, but Adams saw him little.
Key passages
“Society rested, after sweeping into the ash-heap these cinders of a misdirected education.”
Society moved on, discarding the remnants of an outdated upbringing.
Adams reflects on the obsolescence of his own education in the face of modern capitalism.
“Chicago asked in 1893 for the first time the question whether the American people knew where they were driving.”
The 1893 Chicago Exposition posed the novel question of whether Americans understood their direction.
Adams sees the Exposition as a moment of national self-reflection.
“The matter was settled at last by the people. For a hundred years, between 1793 and 1893, the American people had hesitated, vacillated, swayed forward and back, between two forces...”
After a century of indecision, the American people finally chose the capitalistic system in 1893.
Adams summarizes the long struggle between industrial and capitalistic forces.
