William Graham Sumner facts for kids

Quick facts for kids William Graham Sumner
Born	(1840-10-30)October 30, 1840 Paterson, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	April 12, 1910(1910-04-12) (aged 69) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Education	Yale University University of Geneva University of Göttingen University of Oxford
Occupation	Professor
Notable work	What the Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1883) Folkways (1906)

William Graham Sumner (born October 30, 1840 – died April 12, 1910) was an American minister, a social scientist (someone who studies human society), and a supporter of classical liberalism (ideas about individual freedom and limited government). He taught social sciences at Yale University. He was the first professor in the United States to teach sociology, which is the study of how societies work.

Sumner wrote many books and essays about society. He wrote about history, economics, politics, and how different cultures behave. He believed in laissez-faire economics, which means the government should not interfere much with the economy. He also supported free markets (where prices are set by buyers and sellers, not the government) and the gold standard (where money's value is tied to gold).

He created the word "ethnocentrism" to describe how people often judge other cultures based on their own. He used this idea to explain why countries might try to take over others, which he strongly disagreed with. Sumner also spoke out against elitism (when a small group of people think they are better than everyone else). He supported the "forgotten man" of the middle class, a term he also created. He had a lasting impact on conservative ideas in America.

About William Graham Sumner

People have written books about Sumner's life. The first full biography was published in 1925 by Rev. Harris E. Starr. Another one was written by Bruce Curtis in 1981.

His Early Life and Schooling

William Graham Sumner was born in Paterson, New Jersey, on October 30, 1840. His father, Thomas Sumner, came from England in 1836. His mother, Sarah Graham, also came from England in 1825. Sadly, Sumner's mother died when he was only eight years old.

In 1841, his father traveled west to Ohio but later settled in Hartford, Connecticut, around 1845. Sumner greatly respected his father, saying his "principles and habits of life were the best possible."

Sumner went to public schools in Hartford. After finishing school, he worked as a clerk for two years. Then, he went to Yale College and graduated in 1863. He was a very good student and speaker at Yale. He joined two important student societies, Phi Beta Kappa Society and Skull and Bones.

Sumner avoided fighting in the American Civil War by paying someone $250 to take his place. This money, along with help from his father and friends, allowed him to study in Europe. He spent a year in the University of Geneva studying Latin and Hebrew. He then spent two years at the University of Göttingen learning ancient languages, history, and Bible studies.

He learned many languages, including Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, and German. Later in life, he taught himself Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Polish, Danish, and Swedish. In 1866, he went to Oxford University to study theology (the study of religion). There, he became interested in sociology, especially through the ideas of Herbert Spencer.

Teacher, Minister, and Professor

Sumner spent almost his entire career at Yale University, except for a short time as a minister. While at Oxford, he was chosen to be a math tutor. He became a Greek lecturer at Yale in September 1867.

On December 27, 1867, Sumner became a Deacon in the Episcopal Church. In March 1869, he left his teaching job at Yale to work at Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City. In July 1869, he became a Priest.

From 1870 to 1872, Sumner was the Rector (head minister) of the Church of the Redeemer in Morristown, New Jersey. On April 17, 1871, he married Jeannie Whittemore Elliott. They had three sons, but one died as a baby. Their other two sons, Eliot and Graham, later became a railroad officer and a lawyer.

Historian Robert Bierstedt said that Sumner's sermons focused on "Puritan virtues" like hard work, self-reliance, and saving money. Bierstedt believed Sumner preached these ideas throughout his life. However, Sumner liked teaching more than being a minister. So, in 1872, he returned to Yale as a "professor of political and social science" and stayed there until he retired in 1909. He taught the first course in North America called "sociology."

Sumner did not publicly say why he left the ministry. However, he and historians suggest it might have been because he lost some of his religious beliefs or had a negative view of the church. He once said that he "never discarded beliefs deliberately," but that they just faded away over time.

Later in life, Sumner did baptize a grandson and received Holy Communion shortly before his death. This suggests that some religious feeling remained deep inside him.

In his book What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1883), Sumner argued that the church's preference for the poor and against the rich had caused problems in Europe. He felt this idea was still present and encouraged by clergy.

Sumner was known as Yale's most exciting teacher in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Students loved his classes because he truly cared about them, had a strong personality, knew a lot, and spoke clearly. Sumner himself described his life as a professor as "simple and monotonous," but also said it was perfectly suited to his liking.

Despite his simple description, Sumner was a strong supporter of academic freedom. He also helped modernize Yale's courses. This led to a disagreement with Yale's President, Noah Porter, in 1879. Porter asked Sumner not to use Herbert Spencer's book Study of Sociology in his classes. Sumner saw this as a threat to his freedom to teach and refused. The faculty became divided, but Sumner stood firm and won.

Until he became ill in 1890, Sumner constantly wrote and spoke about economic and political issues. His sharp writing style angered some but pleased his supporters. In 1909, the year he retired, Yale gave him an honorary degree.

Sumner was a political science professor, but he didn't get involved much in actual politics. He served as an alderman (a local council member) in New Haven from 1873 to 1876. In 1876, he went to Louisiana to investigate a disputed presidential election. He said this was his only experience in politics and concluded he didn't "know the rules of the game and did not want to learn."

Retirement and Death

Sumner's health began to decline in 1890, and it got much worse after his retirement in 1909. In December 1909, while in New York to give a speech, he had his third and final stroke. He died on April 12, 1910, in Englewood Hospital in New Jersey.

Sumner spent much of his career pointing out problems in society and arguing against them. Despite his efforts, he ended his career feeling pessimistic about the future. He said, "I have lived through the best period of this country's history. The next generations are going to see wars and social calamities."

His Economic Ideas

Sumner strongly believed in laissez-faire economics, which means the government should not control businesses or the economy. He was also a clear supporter of free trade (allowing goods to move between countries without taxes or limits) and the gold standard. He was against socialism (where the government controls industries and services).

He criticized state socialism (where the government owns and controls everything). He specifically disagreed with Edward Bellamy, who wrote books about a national form of socialism.

Against Imperialism

Like many classical liberals of his time, Sumner was against the Spanish–American War and the later U.S. efforts to stop a rebellion in the Philippines. He was a vice president of the American Anti-Imperialist League, a group formed to oppose the U.S. taking over new territories.

In 1899, he gave a famous speech called "The Conquest of the United States by Spain." In this speech, he strongly criticized imperialism (when a powerful country takes control of other countries). He argued that imperialism went against America's core values of justice and equality. He believed it would lead to a new group of "plutocrats" (rich businesspeople who depend on government help) gaining too much power.

As a Sociologist

As a sociologist, Sumner made important contributions. He developed ideas about diffusion (how ideas spread), folkways (the traditional behaviors of a group), and ethnocentrism (judging other cultures by your own). His work on folkways led him to believe that government attempts to force social reforms often didn't work.

In 1876, Sumner was the first person in the English-speaking world to teach a course specifically called "sociology." His course focused on the ideas of early thinkers like Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer. He later became the second president of the American Sociological Association from 1908 to 1909.

In 1880, Sumner was part of an important case about academic freedom. He and Yale's president, Noah Porter, disagreed about using Herbert Spencer's "Study of Sociology" in classes. Spencer's ideas, which applied "Darwinist" concepts to human society, were controversial. However, Spencer's social ideas clearly influenced Sumner's own writings.

Sumner and Social Darwinism

William Graham Sumner was influenced by thinkers like Herbert Spencer. Because of this, many people connect Sumner with social Darwinism. This idea applies the concept of "survival of the fittest" from biology to human society.

In an essay called "Sociology" (1881), Sumner talked about how sociology and biology are connected. He explained that humans face two kinds of struggles. The first is a "struggle for existence" between humans and nature, like trying to find food and water. The second is "competition for life" between people, where they compete for limited resources. Sumner believed that humans could not get rid of the "survival of the fittest" rule. He thought that if people tried to interfere with it, they would only create problems for those who were "unfit" to survive.

Some historians, like Mike Hawkins, say it's fair to call Sumner a social Darwinist. This is because Sumner used ideas from evolution to explain society and suggest policies.

His Views on Warfare

Sumner also applied social Darwinist ideas to his thoughts on warfare in the 1880s. He did not believe that war was only a feature of primitive societies. He suggested that "real warfare" came from more developed societies. While primitive cultures might fight for survival against nature or other tribes for resources, Sumner believed that war was more often a conflict between people with different ideas. He explained that the "competition for life" was the reason for war, and that's why war has always existed and always will.

"The Forgotten Man"

Sumner developed the idea of "the forgotten man" in a series of 11 essays published in 1883. He also spoke about it in two speeches that year. Sumner argued that, in his time, politics was being taken over by people who proposed "relief" measures for problems that caught public attention. He felt that these measures often helped some groups but overlooked the average, hardworking person who paid taxes and followed the rules.

The relationship between Sumner's "forgotten man" and Franklin Roosevelt's later use of the term is explored in Amity Shlaes's book The Forgotten Man.

His Lasting Impact

Sumner's popular essays reached many people. He strongly supported laissez-faire economics, free markets, being against imperialism, and the gold standard. He had a long-lasting influence on modern American conservatism as an important thinker during the Gilded Age (a period of rapid economic growth in the late 1800s).

Thousands of Yale students took his classes, and many said he greatly influenced them. His essays were widely read by intellectuals and business leaders. Some of Sumner's notable students included the anthropologist Albert Galloway Keller, the economist Irving Fisher, and Thorstein Bunde Veblen, who studied economics from an anthropological perspective.

A World War II Liberty Ship (a type of cargo ship) called the SS William G. Sumner was named in his honor.

Yale University still has a special teaching position named after Sumner. The following people have held the William Graham Sumner Professor of Sociology title at Yale:

• Albert Galloway Keller (1909–1942)
• Maurice Rae Davie (1942–1954)
• August Hollingshead (1963–1970)
• Albert J. Reiss Jr. (1970–1993)
• Iván Szelényi (1999–2009)
• Richard Breen (2011–2015)

His Writings

Sumner wrote about 300 different works, including books and articles on economics, political science, and sociology.

Books and Pamphlets

• The Books of the Kings (1872) – Sumner wrote a section on 2 Kings.
• A History of American Currency (1874)
• What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1883)
• Protection and Revenue in 1877 (1878)
• Our Revenue System and the Civil Service (1878) – includes a preface by Sumner.
• Bimetalism (1879)
• Andrew Jackson as a Public Man (1882)
• Lectures on the History of Protection in the United States (1883)
• Problems in Political Economy (1883)
• Protectionism: the -ism Which Teaches that Waste Makes Wealth (1885)
• Collected Essays in Political and Social Science (1885)
• Alexander Hamilton (1890)
• The Financier & the Finances of the American Revolution, Vol 1 (1891)
• The Financier & the Finances of the American Revolution, Vol 2 (1891)
• Robert Morris (1892)
• A History of Banking in all the Leading Nations, Vol 1 (1896)
• The Conquest of the United States by Spain (1899)
• The Predominant Issue (1901)
• Folkways: a study of the sociological importance of usages, manners, customs, mores, and morals (1906)
• Address of William Graham Sumner (1906)
• The Science of Society, Vol. 1 (1927) – with Albert G. Keller.
• The Science of Society, Vol. 2 (1927) – with Albert G. Keller.
• The Science of Society, Vol. 3 (1927) – with Albert G. Keller.
• The Science of Society, Vol .4 (1927) – with Albert G. Keller and Maurice Rea Davie.

Collected Essays

• War, and other essays (1911) – edited by Albert Galloway Keller.
• Earth Hunger and Other Essays (1913) – edited by Albert Galloway Keller.
• The Challenge of Facts: and Other Essays (1914) – edited by Albert Galloway Keller.
• The Forgotten Man, and Other Essays (1918) – edited by Albert Galloway Keller.
• Selected Essays of William Graham Sumner (1934) – edited by Albert Galloway Keller and Maurice R. Davie.
• Sumner Today: Selected Essays of William Graham Sumner, with Comments by American leaders (1940) – edited by Maurice R. Davie.
• The Forgotten Man's Almanac Rations of Common Sense from William Graham Sumner (1943) – edited by A. G. Keller.
• Social Darwinism: Selected Essays of William Graham Sumner (1963) – edited by Stow Persons.
• The Conquest of the United States by Spain, and Other essays (1965) – edited by Murray Polner.
• On Liberty, Society, and Politics: The Essential Essays of William Graham Sumner, (1992) – edited by Robert C. Bannister.

Articles in Magazines (not in collections)

• "The Crisis of the Protestant Episcopal Church", The Nation (1871)
• "The Causes of the Farmer's Discontent", The Nation (1873)
• "Monetary Development", Harper's (1875)
• "Professor Walker on bi-Metallism", The Nation (1878)
• "Socialism", Scribner's Monthly (1878)
• "Protective Taxes and Wages", North American Review (1883)
• "The Survival of the Fittest:", Index (1884)
• "Evils of the Tariff System", North American Review (1884)
• "The Indians in 1887", Forum (1887)
• "The Proposed Dual Organization of Mankind", Popular Science Monthly (1896)
• "The Bequests of the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth", Yale Review (1933, written 1901)
• "Modern Marriage", Yale Review (1924)

See also

In Spanish: William Graham Sumner para niños