If all the judges and all the lawyers in Christendom had decided in the affirmative, when the question is thus brought home to me as a legislator, bound to vote for or against a new charter, upon my oath to support the Constitution, I must exercise my own judgment.
Sumner asserts the importance of individual judgment in legislative decisions, even against prevailing legal opinions.
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More from Charles Sumner
Working-men of Europe, desire abolition of war, XVIII. 236.
His loyalty to the Declaration of Independence, XIX. 317.
Women’s National League, petition of, for universal emancipation, X. 300.
Consent of the governed necessary in forming new governments of, XII. 298.
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