Promptly on the surrender of Lee the just system should have been declared,--being Reconstruction on the principles of the Declaration of Independence, with a piece of land for every adult freedman, to be followed by Amnesty and…
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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Our present embarrassments proceed from failure to comprehend the case, or from perverse sympathy with Rebels,--all of which we inherit from the misrule of Andrew Johnson.
Too late it may be for the piece of land; but it is not too late for the vigorous enforcement of Reconstruction, involving necessarily the adjournment of Amnesty.
Not only did we err at the surrender of Lee in postponing Reconstruction, but also in postponing all effort for Specie Payments.
Peace and security are the specie of Reconstruction, as gold and silver are the specie of Currency.
It is hard that these questions should now be complicated with a machination to annex a West India island by violence, and without any popular voice in its favor.
This is violence, as much as if a broadside were fired.
At a moment when there should be unity among good men for the sake of peace, it is strange and incomprehensible that this project should be pressed for adoption.
Better far bestow our energies in the guardianship of Reconstruction and the establishment of civil order within our borders, including specie payments.
This attempt is aggravated, when it is considered how it proceeds in grievous indifference to the African race.
What are fairest fields with golden harvests as compensation for such an act?
But, if indifferent to the means of annexion, and content even with violence, there remains another question, overtopping all others: Whether the whole Island of San Domingo is not set apart by Providence for the African race?--nay, more…
Colored persons, unwilling to see their race sacrificed, will make a stand against an ill-omened measure.
New Year’s Day will be elevated by vows to keep our Republic true to her great mission, as benefactor, rather than conquering annexer.
Questions calculated to divide must not be pressed.
The party must be a unit; but it cannot be such at any mere word of command.
No one man by ipse dixit can establish the test of fidelity to the party.
Its strength is in its principles, and especially in the Declaration of Independence, which is its corner-stone.
Let us stand by these, without any new shibboleth, unknown to the party, and which many can never utter.
General Jackson’s great words for the Union should be adopted now: “The Republican Party; it must be preserved!” And may every project inconsistent with its harmony be allowed to slumber!
Wherever man exists, there must our good wishes travel, with the precious example of our Republic, making Liberty everywhere an inspiration.
Humanity stands aghast at the barbarous conflict yet prolonged between two most civilized nations.
Soon must it end, and out of its consuming fires may a new civilization arise!
The time has come when the War System, which is still the established arbiter for the determination of international differences, must give place to peaceful substitutes and the disarming of nations.
Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.
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