The ancient Roman, who, confident in the destiny of the Republic, bought the field on which the conquering Hannibal was encamped, is a fit example for us.
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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Some of it has been bought with our money, while all of it, with its rivers, harbors, and extensive coast, has become essential to our business in peace and to our defence in war.
Union is a geographical, economical, commercial, political, military, and (if I may so say) even a fluvial necessity.
Without union, peace on this continent is impossible; but life without peace is impossible also.
Only by crushing this Rebellion can union and peace be restored.
If by any accident the Rebellion should prevail, then, just in proportion to its triumph, through concession on our part or successful force on the other part, will the Union be impaired and peace be impossible.
You have, too, the consciousness of a good cause, which in itself is an army.
The Rebels are combating at home, on their own soil, strengthened and maddened by Slavery, which is to them ally and fanaticism.
It remains for us to encounter the Rebellion calmly and surely by a force superior to its own.
Our battalions must be reinforced by ideas, and we must strike directly at the Origin and Mainspring.
Reason and sentiment both concur in this policy, which is according to the most common principles of human conduct.
As such, I do not err, when I call it, thus far, the most important event of the war,--more important because understood to have the deliberate sanction of the President as well as of the Secretary, and therefore marking the policy of the…
That this policy should be first applied to South Carolina is just.
Slavery is the inveterate culprit, the transcendent criminal, the persevering traitor, the wicked parricide, the arch rebel, the open outlaw.
That men should hesitate to strike at Slavery is only another illustration of human weakness.
The duty which I announce, if not urgent now, as a MILITARY NECESSITY, in just self-defence, will present itself constantly, as our armies advance in the Slave States or land on their coasts.
As we begin to be successful, it must rise before us for practical decision; and we cannot avoid it.
The decision of these two cases will settle the whole great question.
You will strike where the blow is most felt; nor will you miss the precious opportunity.
The enemy is before you, nay, he comes out in ostentatious challenge, and his name is Slavery.
You can vindicate the Union only by his prostration.
Slavery is the very Goliath of the Rebellion, armed with coat of mail, with helmet of brass upon the head, greaves of brass upon the legs, target of brass between the shoulders, and with the staff of his spear like a weaver’s beam.
Thank God, our Government is strong; but thus far all signs denote that it is not strong enough to save the Union, and at the same time save Slavery.
One or the other must suffer; and just in proportion as you reach forth to protect Slavery do you protect this accursed Rebellion, nay, you give to it that very aid and comfort which are the constitutional synonym for treason itself.
Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.
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