On the record
He did not believe that a State, in its own mad will, had a right to break up this Union.
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Sumner asserts that no state has the right to unilaterally dissolve the Union, emphasizing the importance of national integrity.
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More from Charles Sumner
They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.
As the Brotherhood of Man is practically recognized, it becomes impossible to restrict the feeling within any exclusive circle of country, and to set up an unchristian distinction of honor between civil war and international war.
Nay, more,--if it would be criminal in these several clusters of States to reëstablish the Institution of War as Arbiter of Justice, then is it criminal in the Commonwealth of Nations to continue it.
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.
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