Charles Sumner: “If you undertake to detain these prisoners beyond the expiration of this session, you become usurpers, the Senate of the…”

“If you undertake to detain these prisoners beyond the expiration of this session, you become usurpers, the Senate of the United States usurps power that does not belong to it; and, Sir, this is more flagrant, when it is considered that it usurps this power in order to wield it against the liberty of fellow-citizens.”