Young Charles Sumner : and the legacy of the American Enlightenment, 1811-1851 /

This engaging biography of Charles Sumner prior to his election to the US Senate from Massachusetts in 1851 offers a significant reinterpretation of the origins and character of his career as a reformer in the intellectual and social milieu of Boston and Cambridge during the Jacksonian era. Taylor stresses Sumner's commitment as a young lawyer to a Ciceronian understanding of the role of law and rhetoric in a republic. Reinforced by New England "conscience," these commitments impelled him first to comparative legal studies and then to social reform, culminating in abolitionism. Sumner's development was punctuated by experiences that included his relationship to Judge Joseph Story, his lengthy "Grand Tour" to study European legal practices, and his discomfort with a legal profession in transition from Ciceronian high purpose to subservience to commercial interests. Of crucial importance were the divisions among Whigs over the Mexican War and Sumner's emerging role in the Free Soil Movement. A fine portrait of a complex, principled young man determined to serve his society. All levels/collections. R. P. Gildrie Austin Peay State University