The Education of Henry Adams (Webster's Thesaurus Edition)

579 Pages·2006·4.68 MB·English

by  Henry Adams

THE EDUCATION OF
HENRY ADAMS

Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®,
GMAT®, and AP® English Test Preparation

Henry Adams

PSAT is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit Scholarship
Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT is a registered trademark of the College
Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE, AP and Advanced Placement are registered
trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT is a
registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book
nor endorses this book, LSATis a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither
sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved.
The Education of Henry
Adams

Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®,
GMAT®, and AP® English Test Preparation

Henry Adams

PSAT® is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT® is a registered trademark of the
College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE®, AP® and Advanced Placement® are
registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book,
GMAT® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated
with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT® is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council
which neither sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved.
ICON CLASSICS

Published by ICON Group International, Inc.
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www.icongrouponline.com

The Education of Henry Adams: Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT®, SAT®, GRE®, LSAT®,
GMAT®, and AP® English Test Preparation

This edition published by ICON Classics in 2005
Printed in the United States of America.

Copyright ©2005 by ICON Group International, Inc.
Edited by Philip M. Parker, Ph.D. (INSEAD); Copyright ©2005, all rights reserved.

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PSAT® is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT® is a registered
trademark of the College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE®, AP® and
Advanced Placement® are registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither
sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management
Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT® is a
registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither sponsors nor endorses
this product. All rights reserved.

ISBN 0-497-25265-1
iii
Contents

PREFACE FROM THE EDITOR..........................................................................................1

EDITOR’S PREFACE.........................................................................................................3

PREFACE..........................................................................................................................7

CHAPTER I QUINCY (1838-1848).....................................................................................9

CHAPTER II BOSTON (1848-1854).................................................................................27

CHAPTER III WASHINGTON (1850-1854)........................................................................43

CHAPTER IV HARVARD COLLEGE (1854-1858).............................................................57

CHAPTER V BERLIN (1858-1859)...................................................................................73

CHAPTER VI ROME (1859-1860)....................................................................................85

CHAPTER VII TREASON (1860-1861)...........................................................................101

CHAPTER VIII DIPLOMACY (1861)...............................................................................113

CHAPTER IX FOES OR FRIENDS (1862).......................................................................129

CHAPTER X POLITICAL MORALITY (1862)....................................................................145

CHAPTER XI THE BATTLE OF THE RAMS (1863).........................................................167

CHAPTER XII ECCENTRICITY (1863)............................................................................179

CHAPTER XIII THE PERFECTION OF HUMAN SOCIETY (1864).....................................193

CHAPTER XIV DILETTANTISM (1865-1866)..................................................................207

CHAPTER XV DARWINISM (1867-1868).......................................................................221

CHAPTER XVI THE PRESS (1868)................................................................................233

CHAPTER XVII PRESIDENT GRANT (1869)...................................................................249

CHAPTER XVIII FREE FIGHT (1869-1870)....................................................................261

CHAPTER XIX CHAOS (1870).......................................................................................275

CHAPTER XX FAILURE (1871).....................................................................................289

CHAPTER XXI TWENTY YEARS AFTER (1892)..............................................................303

CHAPTER XXII CHICAGO (1893)..................................................................................319

CHAPTER XXIII SILENCE (1894-1898).........................................................................333

CHAPTER XXIV INDIAN SUMMER (1898-1899)............................................................349

CHAPTER XXV THE DYNAMO AND THE VIRGIN (1900)................................................365

CHAPTER XXVI TWILIGHT (1901)................................................................................377

CHAPTER XXVII TEUFELSDROCKH (1901)..................................................................389

CHAPTER XXVIII THE HEIGHT OF KNOWLEDGE (1902)..............................................403

CHAPTER XXIX THE ABYSS OF IGNORANCE (1902)....................................................413
iv

CHAPTER XXX VIS INERTIAE (1903)............................................................................423

CHAPTER XXXI THE GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE (1903)...................................................435

CHAPTER XXXII VIS NOVA (1903-1904).......................................................................447

CHAPTER XXXIII A DYNAMIC THEORY OF HISTORY (1904).........................................459

CHAPTER XXXIV A LAW OF ACCELERATION (1904)....................................................473

CHAPTER XXXV NUNC AGE (1905)..............................................................................483

GLOSSARY...................................................................................................................489
Henry Adams 1

PREFACE FROM THE EDITOR

Designed for school districts, educators, and students seeking to maximize performance on
standardized tests, Webster’s paperbacks take advantage of the fact that classics are frequently
assigned readings in English courses. By using a running thesaurus at the bottom of each page, this
edition of The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams was edited for students who are
actively building their vocabularies in anticipation of taking PSAT®, SAT®, AP® (Advanced
Placement®), GRE®, LSAT®, GMAT® or similar examinations.1

Webster’s edition of this classic is organized to expose the reader to a maximum number of
synonyms and antonyms for difficult and often ambiguous English words that are encountered in
other works of literature, conversation, or academic examinations. Extremely rare or idiosyncratic
words and expressions are given lower priority in the notes compared to words which are “difficult,
and often encountered” in examinations. Rather than supply a single synonym, many are provided
for a variety of meanings, allowing readers to better grasp the ambiguity of the English language,
and avoid using the notes as a pure crutch. Having the reader decipher a word’s meaning within
context serves to improve vocabulary retention and understanding. Each page covers words not
already highlighted on previous pages. If a difficult word is not noted on a page, chances are that it
has been highlighted on a previous page. A more complete thesaurus is supplied at the end of the
book; Synonyms and antonyms are extracted from Webster’s Online Dictionary.

Definitions of remaining terms as well as translations can be found at www.websters-online-
dictionary.org. Please send suggestions to [email protected]

The Editor
Webster’s Online Dictionary
www.websters-online-dictionary.org
1 P S A T ® i s a r e g i s t e r e d t r a d e m a r k o f t h e College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT® is a registered trademark of the
College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE®, AP® and Advanced Placement® are
registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book,
GMAT® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated
with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT® is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council
which neither sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved.

Henry Adams 3

EDITOR’S %PREFACE

THIS volume, written in 1905 as a sequel to the same author’s “Mont Saint
Michel and Chartres,” was privately printed, to the number of one hundred
copies, in 1906, and sent to the persons interested, for their assent, correction, or
suggestion. The idea of the two books was thus explained at the end of Chapter
XXIX:—
“Any schoolboy could see that man as a force must be measured by motion
from a fixed point. Psychology helped here by suggesting a unit—the point of
history when man held the highest idea of himself as a unit in a unified universe.
Eight or ten years of study had led Adams to think he might use the century
1150-1250, expressed in Amiens Cathedral and the Works of Thomas Aquinas, as
the unit from which he might measure motion down to his own time, without
assuming anything as true or untrue, except relation. The movement might be
studied at once in philosophy and mechanics. Setting himself to the task, he
began a volume which he mentally knew as ‘Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres: a
Study of Thirteenth-Century Unity.’ From that point he proposed to fix a
position for himself, which he could label: ‘The Education of Henry Adams: a
Study of Twentieth-Century Multiplicity.’ With the help of these two points of
relation, he hoped to project his lines forward and backward indefinitely,
subject to correction from any one who should know better.”

Thesaurus
assent: (n) acceptance, acquiescence, developing, advanced, confident, sequel: (n) sequence, result, issue,
approval, agreement, compliance, brilliant, bold. aftermath, continuation, continuance,
admission, approbation; (v) accede, indefinitely: (adv) indistinctly, outcome, consequence, ending,
accord, agree; (adj, v) acquiesce. indeterminately, unclearly, upshot, outgrowth. ANTONYM: (n)
ANTONYMS: (v) resist, disagree, uncertainly, undefinedly, unfixedly, prelude.
disapprove, reject, refuse; (n) loosely, imprecisely, undeterminedly, untrue: (adj) erroneous, unfaithful,
disagreement, refusal, resistance. unsettledly, obscurely. ANTONYM: disloyal, incorrect, sham, mistaken,
backward: (adj, adv) late, behindhand; (adv) temporarily. fallacious, treacherous, wrong,
(adj) tardy, retarded, reluctant, coy, schoolboy: (n) lad, scholar, pupil, faithless, inaccurate. ANTONYMS:
slow, laggard, dilatory; (adv) behind, student, disciple, learner, schoolchild, (adj) faithful, true, valid, factual,
backwardly. ANTONYMS: (adj, adv) youngun, younker, youth, school honest, reliable, correct, truthful,
ahead; (adv) onward; (adj) quick, child. loyal, real.
4 The Education of Henry Adams
The “Chartres” was finished and privately printed in 1904. The “Education”
proved to be more difficult. The point on which the author failed to please
himself, and could get no light from readers or friends, was the usual one of
literary form. Probably he saw it in advance, for he used to say, half in jest, that
his great ambition was to complete St. Augustine’s “Confessions,” but that St.
Augustine, like a great artist, had worked from multiplicity to unity, while he,
like a small one, had to reverse the method and work back from unity to
multiplicity. The scheme became unmanageable as he approached his end.%
Probably he was, in fact, trying only to work into it his favorite theory of
history, which now fills the last three or four chapters of the “Education,” and he
could not satisfy himself with his workmanship. At all events, he was still
pondering over the problem in 1910, when he tried to deal with it in another way
which might be more intelligible to students. He printed a small volume called
“A Letter to American Teachers,” which he sent to his associates in the American
Historical Association, hoping to provoke some response. Before he could satisfy
himself even on this minor point, a severe illness in the spring of 1912 put an end
to his literary activity forever.
The matter soon passed beyond his control. In 1913 the Institute of Architects
published the “Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres.” Already the “Education” had
become almost as well known as the “Chartres,” and was freely quoted by every
book whose author requested it. The author could no longer withdraw either
volume; he could no longer rewrite either, and he could not publish that which
he thought unprepared and unfinished, although in his opinion the other was
historically purposeless without its sequel. In the end, he preferred to leave the
“Education” unpublished, avowedly incomplete, trusting that it might quietly
fade from memory. According to his theory of history as explained in Chapters
XXXIII and XXXIV, the teacher was at best helpless, and, in the immediate future,
silence next to good-temper was the mark of sense. After midsummer, 1914, the
rule was made absolute.
The Massachusetts Historical Society now publishes the “Education” as it
was printed in 1907, with only such marginal corrections as the author made,

Thesaurus
according: (adj) pursuant, consonant, beloved, popular; (n) pet, choice, random, objectless, nonsensical,
equal, agreeable, harmonious, pick, preference. ANTONYMS: (n) designless; (adj, adv) aimless,
conformable, consistent, indifference, superior, underdog; directionless. ANTONYM: (adj)
corresponding, respondent; (adv) (adj) unwanted, despised, disliked, meaningful.
correspondingly, accordingly. hated, unusual. requested: (adj) demanded.
avowedly: (adv) professedly, jest: (n) gag, gibe, quip, game; (n, v) unmanageable: (adj) unwieldy,
admittedly, confessedly, apparently, jape; (v) banter, jeer, deride, gird, intractable, uncontrollable, awkward,
openly, patently, publicly, sneer, clown. cumbersome, stubborn, clumsy,
acknowledgedly, true, as midsummer: (n) summer, solstice, bulky, recalcitrant, ungovernable,
acknowledged, ostensibly. June solstice, June. obstinate. ANTONYMS: (adj)
favorite: (adj, n) darling, favourite, purposeless: (adj) meaningless, manageable, orderly, wieldy,
dear, number one; (adj) favored, senseless, useless, driftless, empty, amenable, biddable.
Henry Adams 5
and it does this, not in opposition to the author’s judgment, but only to put both
volumes equally within reach of students who have occasion to consult them.%
HENRY CABOT LODGE
September, 1918

Thesaurus
consult: (v) consider, negotiate, discrimination; (n) determination, support, acceptance, approval,
deliberate, advise, refer, discuss, ask, discretion, opinion, assessment, backing, encouragement, inclination,
reason, look up, canvass; (n, v) talk. adjudication. ANTONYMS: (n) goodwill, ease, agreement,
ANTONYMS: (v) ignore, bypass. clumsiness, request, tastelessness. cooperation.
equally: (adv) evenly, equivalently, occasion: (n, v) cause; (n) case, event, reach: (n, v) fetch, stretch; (adj, v)
levelly, alike, justly, as, parallelly, juncture, episode, incident; (v) bring overtake, pass, extend; (v) obtain,
uniformly, similarly; (adj, adv, conj) as about, create, beget, make, induce. achieve, make, attain, get; (n)
well; (adj) even. ANTONYMS: (adv) opposition: (n) conflict, contrary, compass. ANTONYMS: (v)
unevenly, individually, differently, contrariety, opposite, hostility, withdraw, differ, fail.
unfairly. enemy, opponent, antagonism,
judgment: (n, v) decision, belief, competition, contradiction; (n, prep)
discernment, condemnation, sense, antithesis. ANTONYMS: (n) ally,