Chapter 16 The Press (1868) Summary

Adams returns home, finally, in July of 1868. He does not fit into the new American society. A new age is coming, powered by coal and steam, etc. The railroad represents the future. Adams, like many of his peers, casts about looking for work. His education is not suited to working for the railroads; he wants to find a way to break into the press. He already had the North American Review for his long articles, and the Nation for correspondence, but he needs a New York daily as his real platform. Not finding a way to make it in New York, he heads instead to Washington, D.C., led by Evarts. Washington seems to be the same as it was before. Adams begins to work with the Treasury. The Secretary of the Treasury is Hugh McCullogh, a banker. Though...