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In summary, Brooks Adams felt that the nature of history was order and that the order so discovered was as much subject to historical laws as the forces of nature.

Moreover, he believed that most professional historians lacked some of the essential instruments for a proper study of history.

However, despite the insight of many of his observations, his own conclusions are open to suspicion because of his failure to employ at all times the correct research methods.

This should not prejudice an evaluation of his findings, but they were not the findings of a completely impartial investigator.

What was perhaps more important than his concept of the nature of history and the historical method were those forces which shaped the direction of his thought.

In the final analysis his contribution to American historiography was founded on almost intuitive insights into religion, economics, and Darwinism, the three factors which conditioned his search for a law of history.