Book Reviews and Notices more were told of what went on between the battles and skirmishes. This would add variety and give depth to the study. Perhaps the most interesting section is the last three chapters which follow Sumter through his declining years. An up-country politician, he represented the more democratic element in the State, attached to the principles of Thomas Jefferson. The old Gamecock died in 1832 at the age of ninety-eight, the last of the Revolutionary generals and a man around whom a host of legends had arisen. Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, 1746-1813. By George Dangerfield. (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, i960, viii 4- 532 pages, frontis., genealogical chart, biblio. note, index. $10.00.) Reviewed by Philip L. White, Department of History, University of Chicago. The first sentence of Mr. Dangerfield's foreword states bluntly: "This book is primarily a study in aristocracy." As such it seems to the reviewer even more successful than the notable work by Dixon Ryan Fox, The Decline of the Aristocracy in the Politics of New York. It does much to explain "the failure of aristocracy to resist the purge" undertaken by "popular" elements. Clearly concern for aristocracy dominated Livington's political life. He supported the Revolution to protect the political and economic power of New York's landed aristocracy which was threatened by British policies. But in winning the struggle for home rule, the aristocracy lost the contest over who would rule at home. For years Livingston's tenants had been becoming less amenable to political control. During the Revolution many chose "to stand by the King," as Livingston put it, "in the hopes that if they succeeded they should have their lands" (p. 57). Other opponents of aristocracy, however, supported the Revolution and in so doing gained control of the new State government. "May he [the Almighty] give us Peace and Independence and deliverance from the persecution of the Lower Class," wrote Livingston's mother, Margaret Beekman Livingston, after recounting the heavy tax burdens imposed on her by the revolutionary government. It was "fear not only of [State] taxes, but also of an unjust or ignorant interpretation of state tax laws," according to the author, which helped persuade Livingston to give strong support to the new Federal Constitution with its limitations of States' rights (p. 221). Finally, Livingston's switch from Federalism to Jeffersonianism was due not only to pique at Washington's failure to offer him a major appointment but also to dislike of Hamilton's policies which favored the "moneyed" over the landed interest. Livingston's personality reflected aristocratic values incompatible with popular beliefs. He insisted on lease terms strongly reminiscent of feudalism, although he patronizingly indulged long-standing arrears of rent. 419