The Supreme Court has erred infinitely and wretchedly, but the Senator now errs in the same way.
Charles Sumner
The Public Record
Charles Sumner was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American advocate for the abolition of slavery, and after the war he was a key figure in the Reconstruction era, during which he and other Radical Republicans successfully fought to end slavery and ensure basic rights for Black Americans. He continued advocating for racial equality until his death, lobbying in his final days for a civil rights bill that served as a model for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Historians credit Sumner with coining the phrase "equality before the law," which he first used as part of an early attempt to integrate Boston's public school system.
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Local laws which defy the Declaration of Independence cannot be recognized without defying the Declaration; nor can the Senator escape responsibility merely by saying that he follows the local laws.
I cannot consent by my vote, and I never will consent by my vote, to give sanction to a law that punishes a man for teaching another to read the word of God.
The will of a corporation is not merely the concurring will of all its members, but even that of the greater number.
More than ever before, the time has come for an earnest, absolute, controlling patriotism.
It is the idea of Freedom, which, in spite of all discomfiture, past or present, must give new force to the embattled armies of the Republic, making their conflicts her own.
If ever there was occasion when country might claim the best and most self-forgetful effort of all, it is now.
The skies are brighter and the air is purer now that Slavery is handed over to judgment.
Thank God for what is already done, and let us all take heart as we go forward to uphold this great edict!
The first is, that from my place in the Senate I early proclaimed Slavery to be Barbarism.
Now that we are all united in the policy of Emancipation, they become of little consequence; for, even if I were once alone, I am no longer so.
And now all that I then proposed is embodied in the legislation of the country as the supreme law of the land.
But the statesman, in all the troubles of his country, has the same preliminary duty.
No folding of the hands, no putting off till to-morrow what can be done to-day, no hesitation, no timidity, but action, action, action, straightforward, manly, devoted action.
In war there are some who content themselves with triumphs of prudence instead of triumphs of courage, and spend much time in trying how not to be beaten, instead of how to beat.
I am proud to own that with me just the reverse is the case.
But, if not beyond learning from the enemy, we shall see that the generals most hated on our side, and, like Adams and Hancock in the Revolution, specially excepted from pardon, are Phelps and Hunter, plainly because the ideas of these…
The glad tidings of Freedom will travel with the wind, with the air, with the light, quickening and inspiring the whole mass.
Just in proportion as we follow them we are misled, and we shall continue to be misled so long as we follow them.
These are emphatic words, and as often as I am reminded of the opinions of Slave-Masters on our present duties, when Slavery is in question, I think of them as a solemn warning, confirmed by all the teachings of experience in our own…
Let the war end on the battle-field alone, and it will be only in appearance that it will end, not in reality.
The Rebellion may seem to be vanquished, and yet it will triumph.
The Union may seem to conquer, and yet it will succumb.
The Republic may seem to be saved, and yet it will be lost,--handed over a prey to that injustice which, so long as it exists, must challenge the judgments of a righteous God.
Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.
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