What the case requires is firmness which nothing can shake.
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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Let the timid cry, but let Massachusetts stand stiff.
We are on the eve of great events, and this month will try men’s souls.
But our duty is clear as noonday, and bright as the sun.
Those who believe that it is the first duty of a State to protect its citizens from oppression, as much when the oppression is threatened by the General Government as when it comes from any other quarter, owe you especial thanks.
They urge that we cannot have a united North, unless we make an effort for adjustment; to which I reply: “We have the verdict of the people last November: that is enough.
But these compromisers do not comprehend the glory of a principle.
Nobody can foresee precisely all that is in the future, but I do not doubt that any conflict will precipitate the doom of Slavery.
I bear always in my mind and on my heart the honor of the ‘Old Bay State,’ and the claims of our holy cause of Liberty upon my devotion and efforts.
He has force enough on hand to hold the capital for hours against any attack which can be expected, and within that time he can have fifty thousand men from the North.
You see as well as I, that any military assistance must be invited by the Government.
I regret very much that he made them, and I protested most earnestly against them.
Lincoln would be inaugurated on the 4th of March President of the United States, and rally the country to his support.
I do not think we should allow this opportunity to pass without trying the question, whether a single State can break up the Union.
I have no concession or compromise of any kind to propose or favor; least of all can I become party to any proposition which sanctions Slavery directly or indirectly.
I deplore everything of this kind, however plausible, as demoralizing to the country.
Pray keep Massachusetts sound and firm--FIRM--FIRM--against every word or step of concession.
The question must be met on the Constitution as it is and the facts as they are, or we shall hereafter hold our Government subject to this asserted right of secession.
Should we yield now,--and any offer is concession,--every Presidential election will be conducted with menace of secession by the defeated party.
Let her not write a shameful page in the history of Human Freedom.
In the future let it be said that Massachusetts did not waver in the cause for which she has done so much.
How easy it would be for me to give my life rather than have her take a single backward step!
There can be no other result except our own humiliation, and a bad example, which will be felt by all other States.
If Massachusetts yields one hair’s breadth, other States may yield an inch or foot, a furlong, or a mile.
Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.
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