I therefore adopt the language of my friend, when he said, “Let us take no backward step.” I would increase this appropriation, rather than diminish it.
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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PRESIDENT,--There is a principle of our institutions, to which reference is constantly made in this debate, which is worthy of constant memory.
It is the subordination of the military to the civil power.
I consider that the demands of republican institutions are completely satisfied, if we exclude men in active service from taking part in civil life.
It must be trampled out, so that it can never show itself again, or prolong itself into another generation.
Are our offices so well filled, is the public service so completely performed, that we can afford to exclude talent and experience?
There, Sir, you come in conflict with the fundamental principle of republican institutions.
You cannot, as I submit, fill civil offices from the active service of the Army or Navy without conflict with that fundamental principle.
There is nothing in our history by which we have acquired a better fame than what we have done for science.
And the United States Exploring Expedition, organized by the care of John Quincy Adams, has given to our Republic a true renown.
Who would blot from our annals this invaluable record?
Kane and Hayes have added to our geographical knowledge, and inscribed the names of honored countrymen on Arctic headlands; but their expeditions proceeded from private munificence.
Perhaps I desire too much; but I would have my country explore this whole North American Continent, not only in the interest of science, but for the sake of the near future.
Just in proportion as we know the earth can we use and enjoy it.
The bill is destructive, but in no respect constructive.
It pulls down, but does not pretend to set up.
To adopt it in its present form would be as if you voted the destruction of this Capitol, without providing any place for the meeting of Congress, or economizing the ruins you made.
But whatever may be its character, nothing is clearer than that it should not be a burden on the postal service.
With regard to the frank there are two obvious principles: first, so far as it is a privilege, it must be abolished; and, secondly, so far as it is allowed to remain, it must not be at the expense of the Post-Office, but, like other…
It is not the system which has existed from the beginning of our Government, under which the country has grown in knowledge and power.
Such are the grounds for the repudiation of all surrender to Slavery in the Union.
It has lent itself to the dissemination of truth, especially in speeches; so that it has been preacher and schoolmaster, with the whole people to hear and to learn.
But just in proportion as the franking system is important with us should its abolition be accompanied by a corresponding reduction in postage.
By this process, at once simple, economical, and efficient, all postages will be collected, and there will be no necessity for accounts.
Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.
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