In recent years, scholars across the humanities have argued that the nineteenth-century American abolitionists articulated important conceptual lessons about democracy. This essay contributes to this literature by newly interpreting the political thought of Charles Sumner. Regnant scholarly treatments of Sumner have been narrowly biographical. I shift focus by examining his use of the word “caste” as an analytic and political term. The article demonstrates that Sumner adopted the language of caste from missionary accounts of caste hierarchy in India; that he used this information to argue that there was an oppressive analogue at home: racial caste; and that, accordingly, Sumner's conception of abolition included the dismantling of racial caste and the cultivation of interracial republican association.

近年来，人文学科的学者们认为，19 世纪的美国废奴主义者阐明了关于民主的重要概念教训。本文通过对查尔斯·萨姆纳的政治思想进行新的诠释，为这一文学做出了贡献。对萨姆纳的权威学术处理一直是狭隘的传记。我通过研究他将“种姓”一词用作分析和政治术语来转移焦点。这篇文章表明，萨姆纳从传教士对印度种姓等级制度的记载中采用了种姓语言；他利用这些信息来争辩说家里有一个压迫性的类比：种族种姓；相应地，萨姆纳的废除概念包括种族种姓的瓦解和种族共和联盟的培养。