Charles Sumner: “To decline this duty, to shirk this obvious obligation, is to behave…”

On the record

To decline this duty, to shirk this obvious obligation, is to behave as no private citizen could behave without the imputation of meanness.

Said by

Massachusetts

Source

Sumner condemns the refusal to fulfill obligations as an act of meanness, applicable to both individuals and the government.

More from Charles Sumner

Sovereignty of, belongs to the people, XVI. 28.

Women’s National League, petition of, for universal emancipation, X. 300.

His loyalty to the Declaration of Independence, XIX. 317.

Early testimony of the Church against, I. 59.

Other voices in this conversation

Charles Sumner: “To decline this duty, to shirk this obvious obligation, is to behave as no private citizen could behave without the…”