He possesses uncommon military talents, is of a quick and sound judgment, persevering, and enterprising without rashness; and besides these, he is of a very conciliating temper and perfectly sober, which are qualities that rarely combine…
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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His presence alone was for our country an Embassy.
Now, my dear General, that you are going to enjoy some ease and quiet, permit me to propose a plan to you, which might become greatly beneficial to the black part of mankind.
Let us unite in purchasing a small estate where we may try the experiment to free the negroes and use them only as tenants.
Such an example as yours might render it a general practice; and if we succeed in America, I will cheerfully devote a part of my time to render the method fashionable in the West Indies.
In these few words addressed to Washington will be seen the same spirit which inspired him originally to enlist for us, the same instinctive love of Liberty, the same self-sacrifice, the same generosity, the same nobleness, expressed with…
Valuable as is this testimony for the African race, it is also precious in illustration of that remarkable character, which, from the beginning, was guided by no transient spirit of adventure, but by a sentiment almost divine for Human…
In this light his original consecration to our cause assumes new dignity, while American Independence becomes but a stage in the triumphs of that Liberty which is the common birthright of all mankind.
If Fox was a boy-debater, as he has been called, then was Lafayette a boy-hero,--and hero of Humanity he continued to the end.
At the table of Frederick he vindicated American institutions, and especially answered doubts with regard to “the strength of the Union,” which he upheld always as a fundamental condition of national prosperity.
He confidently looked to our Independence as the fruitful parent of a new order of ages, being that rightful self-government, above all hereditary power, whether of kings or nobles, which he proudly called the “American Era.
His heart was ever intent on projects of Human Improvement.
In the early case, Slavery was regarded by our fathers only as an existing FACT; and it is only as an existing FACT that it can be regarded by us in the present case; nor is there any power of Congress, generously exerted for those distant…
Aroused by the disabilities of Protestants in France, amounting to absolute outlawry, sad heritage of that fatal measure, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Lafayette, though himself a Catholic, entered into earnest efforts for their…
At the same time his opposition to African slavery assumed a practical form.
Alas! had Washington at that time united with Lafayette, there would have been a living example of untold value to our country, instead of that dead despair which was like a stone wall in the path of Progress.
In simple words he records himself once more “against the slavery of negroes,” and then declares that he has ever been “partial to his brethren of that color.” For him the degraded slave is brother, although of a color not his own.
It was foreshadowed in the writings of philosophers, in the gradual march of Human Progress, in the wide-spread influence of the American Revolution, in the growing instincts of the people, and the obvious injustice of existing…
Alas, that such a cause, so beautiful in itself and so grand in promise, was wrested from its original character by the passions of men!
As he had formerly drawn his sword, so now he raised his voice for popular rights; nor was he deterred by the courtly presence.
By his side was the yet youthful Lafayette, seconding the demand, which he followed by proposing a Declaration of the Rights of Man, embodying not merely specific rights secured by precedent and practice, as in the English Bill of Rights…
It constitutes part of the Declaration of Independence, and also of the Constitution of Massachusetts, giving character to each; but it was now for the first time put forth in Europe, illustrating that “American Era” which Lafayette…
Nature has made men free and equal; the distinctions necessary for social order are founded on general utility only.
Each was an event; the two together make an epoch.
Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.
Politicians like Charles Sumner
