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'''William Graham Sumner''' (1840-1910) was a leading American social scientist of the late 19th century.  based at Yale College, he influenced generations of students and a very wide readership. He is best known for promoting his version of [[libertarian]] political philosophy.  Many of his ideas have been thoroughly incorporated into American conservative thought.  His academic work in sociology, economic history and anthropology proved influential in its day.

'''William Graham Sumner''' (1840-1910) was a leading American social scientist of the late 19th century.  based at Yale College, he influenced generations of students and a very wide readership. He is best known for promoting his version of [[libertarian]] political philosophy.  Many of his ideas have been thoroughly incorporated into American conservative thought.  His academic work in sociology, economic history and anthropology proved influential in its day.

==Career==

==Career==

His father was a skilled worker in England who emigrated to the U.S. in 1836; the family settled in Hartford, Connecticut. The father worked in a railroad repair shop, and was entirely self educated. His interest in social and economic questions influenced the son. After graduation from the excellent Hartford public schools, young Sumner entered Yale College in 1859. He did not serve in the Civil War, and devoted himself to studies. Sumner made friends easily, and they helped fund his further education in Europe after he graduated Yale in 1863. He always wanted to be an Episcopal priest, so he studied theology at Geneva, Göttingen, and Oxford. Returning to America, he was tutor at Yale from 1866 to 1869. In late 1867, he was admitted to the diaconate of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and in 1869 he became assistant to Dr. E. A. Washburn, rector of Calvary Church, New York, where he was ordained priest in July 1869. In addition to his clerical duties he edited, ''The Living Church'', an monthly magazine that supported the "Broad Church" faction of Episcopalians. In 1870 he became rector of the Church of the Redeemer, in Morristown, N. J.; in 1871 he married Jeannie Whittemore Elliott, daughter of a wealthy New York merchant.

His father was a skilled worker in England who emigrated to the U.S. in 1836; the family settled in Hartford, Connecticut. The father worked in a railroad repair shop, and was entirely self-educated. His interest in social and economic questions influenced the son. After graduation from the excellent Hartford public schools, young Sumner entered Yale College in 1859. He did not serve in the Civil War, and devoted himself to studies. Sumner made friends easily, and they helped fund his further education in Europe after he graduated Yale in 1863. He always wanted to be an Episcopal priest, so he studied theology at Geneva, Göttingen, and Oxford. Returning to America, he was tutor at Yale from 1866 to 1869. In late 1867, he was admitted to the diaconate of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and in 1869 he became assistant to Dr. E. A. Washburn, rector of Calvary Church, New York, where he was ordained priest in July 1869. In addition to his clerical duties he edited, ''The Living Church'', an monthly magazine that supported the "Broad Church" faction of Episcopalians. In 1870 he became rector of the Church of the Redeemer, in Morristown, N. J.; in 1871 he married Jeannie Whittemore Elliott, daughter of a wealthy New York merchant.

Rev. Sumner was an able and scrupulous priest, but he put religion away in a drawer and when he came back years later, he recalled, the drawer was empty.

Rev. Sumner was an able and scrupulous priest, but he put religion away in a drawer and when he came back years later, he recalled, the drawer was empty.

Sumner played with a Social Darwinist themes borrowed from [[Herbert Spencer]] during the 1880s, but unpublished manuscripts by Sumner discovered in the 1970s show that he came to reject the basic premises of Social Darwinism by 1900.<ref>Bannister (1973); Norman Erik Smith, "William Graham Sumner as an Anti-Social Darwinist." ''Pacific Sociological Review'' 1979 22(3): 332-347. 0030-8919.  Sumner’s apparent support for Social Darwinism as stated in ''The Science of Society'' (1927, printed 17 years after Sumner's death) was actually the thought of Albert Galloway Keller, with whom he collaborated. Norman E. Smith and Roscoe C. Hinkle, "Sumner Versus Keller and the Social Evolutionism of Early American Sociology." ''Sociological Inquiry'' 1979 49(1): 41-48. 0038-0245.</ref> Sumner's thought was a synthesis of Scottish Common Sense Realism, classical [[republicanism]], and [[laissez-faire]] economics. His synthesis continues to inform much of modern conservative social thought. Sumner's opposition to the Spanish-American War in 1898 emerged from his fear that imperialism would undermine republican government by strengthening the hand of the plutocracy, "the political power of capital."<ref>Pickens (1987)</ref>   

Sumner played with a Social Darwinist themes borrowed from [[Herbert Spencer]] during the 1880s, but unpublished manuscripts by Sumner discovered in the 1970s show that he came to reject the basic premises of Social Darwinism by 1900.<ref>Bannister (1973); Norman Erik Smith, "William Graham Sumner as an Anti-Social Darwinist." ''Pacific Sociological Review'' 1979 22(3): 332-347. 0030-8919.  Sumner’s apparent support for Social Darwinism as stated in ''The Science of Society'' (1927, printed 17 years after Sumner's death) was actually the thought of Albert Galloway Keller, with whom he collaborated. Norman E. Smith and Roscoe C. Hinkle, "Sumner Versus Keller and the Social Evolutionism of Early American Sociology." ''Sociological Inquiry'' 1979 49(1): 41-48. 0038-0245.</ref> Sumner's thought was a synthesis of Scottish Common Sense Realism, classical [[republicanism]], and [[laissez-faire]] economics. His synthesis continues to inform much of modern conservative social thought. Sumner's opposition to the Spanish-American War in 1898 emerged from his fear that imperialism would undermine republican government by strengthening the hand of the plutocracy, "the political power of capital."<ref>Pickens (1987)</ref>   

Sumner has often been called a dogmatic defender of laissez-faire and of conservative social Darwinism. But an examination of his unpublished essay of 1909, "On the Concentration of Wealth", reveals that he changed his mind. In his 1909 essay he shows his concern for pervasive corporate monopoly as a threat to social equality and democratic government. His analysis was akin to that of a [[Woodrow Wilson|Wilsonian]] Progressive, although his remedies were vague and incomplete. This stand against plutocracy was consistent with his life and consisted of a long defense of a middle-class society against the pressures of greedy self-interest groups and demos, the mob. Earlier he was most concerned with threats from corrupt politicians. Later plutocracy threatened the middle classes through abuses which might have led to [[class warfare]].<ref>Curtis 1969)</ref>

Sumner has often been called a dogmatic defender of laissez-faire and of conservative social Darwinism. But an examination of his unpublished essay of 1909, "On the Concentration of Wealth", reveals that he changed his mind. In his 1909 essay he shows his concern for pervasive corporate monopoly as a threat to social equality and democratic government. His analysis was akin to that of a [[Woodrow Wilson|Wilsonian]] Progressive, although his remedies were vague and incomplete. This stand against plutocracy was consistent with his life and consisted of a long defense of a middle-class society against the pressures of greedy self-interest groups and demos, the mob. Earlier he was most concerned with threats from corrupt politicians. Later plutocracy threatened the middle classes through abuses which might have led to [[class warfare]].<ref>Curtis (1969)</ref>

==Bibliography==

==Bibliography==