Henry Adams was born in 1838. He was an American novelist, journalist and academic. Adams was born into one of America's most prominent political families with both his grandfather and great grandfather being U S presidents. After attending Harvard Adams went on a grand tour of Europe. On his return he became his father's personal secretary and accompanied him to London. On returning to the US he settle din Washington as a journalist and then became a professor of Medieval History at Harvard. In Democracy a relationship between a young hostess and a powerful politician develops. The political society in Washington during President Ulysses S. Grand's second term in office. Is the setting for this novel.