Political Quotes

On the record
On the face it is a tax on rags; but rags are imported to make paper; so that a tax on rags is a tax on paper, and as such is a tax on knowledge.
Said by
Charles Sumner
Massachusetts

Editor's note · Context

Sumner highlights the indirect consequences of taxing rags, linking it to a tax on knowledge through paper production.

Share

More from Charles Sumner

Still further: every ship-of-war that floats costs more than a well-endowed college.

gutenberg.org

It is a cause which, though long kept in check throughout our country, as also in Europe, now confronts the people and their rulers, demanding to be heard.

gutenberg.org

It is larger than the entire profit of all the commerce and manufactures of the world.

gutenberg.org

Confessing the Fatherhood of God, and the consequent Brotherhood of Man, we find a divine standard of unquestionable accuracy.

gutenberg.org

Other voices in this conversation