James Brooks (Whig)

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Born in Portland, Maine, Brooks attended the public schools.He attended the academy at Monmouth, Maine.He taught school at sixteen years of age in Lewiston, Maine.He was graduated from Waterville College in 1831.He studied law and also edited the "Portland Advertiser", and in 1832 was its Washington correspondent.He served as member of the State house of representatives in 1835.He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1836 to the Twenty-fifth Congress.He 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.He served in the State assembly in 1847.

Brooks was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1853).He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1852 to the Thirty-third Congress.He resumed his editorial pursuits.

Brooks was 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.

Brooks was 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 Crédit Mobilier of America scandal.He served as member of the State constitutional convention in 1867.He was appointed a Government director of the Union Pacific Railroad in October 1867.He died in Washington, D.C., April 30, 1873.He was interred in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.

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