On the record
What battle ever did so much as the Declaration of Independence?
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
In this statement, Sumner elevates the Declaration of Independence as a monumental achievement for humanity.
Share
More from Charles Sumner
Tendencies of nations, as revealed in history, teach that our aims are in harmony with prevailing laws, which God, in his benevolence, has ordained for mankind.
They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.
Controlled by such a code, employing such representatives, sustained by such agencies, animated by such Furies, and producing such fruits of tears and bitterness, it must be open to question.
The first is a heavenly sentiment, from God: the other is a device of this world.
Other voices in this conversation
