Gilbert Haven, Methodist Abolitionist: A Study in Race, Religion, and Reform, 1850-1880 (review)

BOOK REVIEWS177 Webster may have believed that "character is power," as Nathans tells us, but his own reputation for integrity was not beyond reproach. An avaricious man, Webster resigned the Senate in order to speculate wildly in western lands before the Panic of 1837, then encouraged rich friends to put up a slush fund to save him. As Secretary of State, he was not too high minded to bribe newspaper editors with government funds. Webster deplored class conflict, yet played upon rich men's fears for his own political advantage. He adopted the rhetoric of patriotism when it suited his national ambitions, yet fell back upon a potentially dangerous game of sectional politics when his interest required it. The author himself gives us these and other examples of Webster's questionable personal and political ethics. Unfortunately, too often, he does not analyze their significance in relation to his central thesis. Despite these reservations, Nathans has made an outstanding contribution to the literature of the second American party system. The book is richly researched, skillfully written, and judicious in much of its analysis. University of Connecticut Kim T. Phillips Gilbert Haven, Methodist Abolitionist: A Study in Race, Religion, and Reform, 1850-1880. By William Gravely. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1973. Pp.272. $8.95.) Winner of the biennial Jesse Lee Prize in American Methodist History, Gravely has written a fascinating intellectual portrait of Haven's major career line, that of a Methodist minister-social reformer with an enduring commitment to racial equality during those years holding the greatest hope and ending in the bitterest despair for this goal, the third quarter of the nineteenth century. This is not a comprehensive intellectual biography, but it is a major contribution to American intellectual history in the period. Of particular merit is Gravely's handling of the context and background of Haven's activities and positions. After a brief but interesting chapter focusing on Haven's ( 1821-1880) choice of a vocation, Gravely divides his study into five stages of the minister's career. Chapter Two is an insightful consideration of Haven as a Christian abolitionist in the 1850's. Three centers on Haven's reaction to the outbreak of the Civil War and his campaign to persuade northern public opinion of the moral necessity of emancipation. Articulation of a position of full racial equality for blacks North and South during the remainder of the War and the first months of Reconstruction is the focus of Chapter Four, ending with an all too summary treatment of Haven's "psychophysical collapse" in early 1866. Chapter Five follows Haven's "Crusade Against Caste" as editor of the influential Zions Herald, 1867-72, and the final chapter is devoted to his courageous but 178CIVIL WAR HISTORY despairing years as a Methodist bishop assigned in 1872 to the South and based in Atlanta. Not only is this the first major study of Gilbert Haven, it is a first rate one. Gravely's knowledge of nineteenth century American religious history is almost always in evidence, and his interweaving of manuscript with published sources is handled carefully. The one flaw is that Haven's breakdown in the mid-1860's is presented as intimately related to his major life concerns yet we are left hanging as to the precise meaning of the breakdown within the context of the Civil War experience and its impact upon Haven's life and work. But this is minor compared to the overall achievement—a study that should be read by all Middle Period historians for the light it casts upon religion and race in the Civil War era. William J. Gilmore Stockton State College, New Jersey George W. Brackenridge: Maverick Philanthropist. By Marilyn McAdams Sibley. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1973. Pp. xiii, 280. $8.50.) Professor Marilyn McAdams Sibley of Houston Baptist University has produced an interesting biography about a little known Texas philanthropist , George Washington Brackenridge. The work is an admirable one, although some periods of Brackenridge's life are not covered as well as others and occasionally adequate explanations are lacking for certain of the subject's actions. However, these shortcomings are not the fault of Professor Sibley. Before his death in...