I aver that in nine cases out of ten within my own observation, where a white man has provoked an affray with a black, and savagely misused him, the black man has been fined for insolent language, because he did not receive the chastisement in submissive silence, while the white man has gone free.
Editor's note · Context
Sumner shares his observations on racial injustice, illustrating the bias in legal consequences faced by black individuals.
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Their existence is a disgrace to civilization; for it implies the common consent of nations to the Arbitrament of War, as regulated by these laws.
I agree with the Convention in the importance of the new organization; nor do I think there are many candid persons, recognizing morals as the soul of all true politics, who will hesitate in this conclusion.
They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.
It is clear that the only question of present practical interest arises from the usurpations of the Slave Power and the efforts to extend Slavery.





