Charles Sumner

I have seen and experienced much of the disabilities which rest upon my race and people from the mere accident of color.

He has no conception of its vastness, extending everywhere, with ramifications in every State, and requiring one uniform remedy, which, from the nature of the case, can be supplied only by the Nation.

It is the beginning of the argument in reply to him, that the grievance is such that it can be dealt with adequately only by Congress.

I know the generous heart of the Senator; and I know that he could not hesitate, did he really see this great grievance.

The only difference between the Senator and myself, so far as the argument is concerned, is one simply of power.

Senators whom they helped elect show no zeal for their rights.

Or if you do not place the rights of the colored people foremost, will you not at least place them side by side with those of former Rebels?

Now, Sir, will you not be just before you are generous?

They insist that they shall be saved from indignity when they travel, and when they offer a child at the common school,--that they shall be secured against any such outrage before you remove the disabilities of men who struck at the life…

They insist upon their rights before you play the generous to Rebels.

They do not recognize the Senators who have undertaken to speak for them as their representatives.

Only by maintaining Equality will you maintain the great victory of the war.

So long as it continues, the great question of the war remains still undecided; for, as I explained the other day, that transcendent issue, as stated by Jefferson Davis, and then again accepted by Abraham Lincoln, was Equality.

That is contrary to the spirit of our institutions, to the promises of the Declaration of Independence, and to all that is secured in the recent Constitutional Amendments.

The one has open doors for all; the other has open doors only for those of a certain color.

The separate school has for its badge Inequality.

The common school has for its badge Equality.

If you make it for a class, it is not a common school, but a separate school,--and, as I have said frequently to-day, and also before in addressing the Senate, a separate school never can be a substitute for the common school.

There is true grandeur in an example of justice, making the rights of all the same as our own, and beating down prejudice, like Satan, under our feet.

There is beauty in art, in literature, in science, and in every triumph of intelligence, all of which I covet for my country; but there is a higher beauty still in relieving the poor, in elevating the down-trodden, and being a succor to…

I make it also for the sake of peace, so that at last there shall be an end of Slavery, and the rights of the citizen shall be everywhere under the equal safeguard of national law.

I make it in the name of the Great Declaration, and also of that Equality before the Law which is the supreme rule of conduct, to the end especially that fellow-citizens may be vindicated in “the pursuit of happiness,” according to the…

I make this appeal for the sake of the Senate, which will rejoice to be relieved from a painful discussion; for the sake of fellow-citizens whom I cannot forget; and for the sake of the Republic, now dishonored through a denial of justice.

Let the record be made at last, which shall be the cap-stone of the reconstructed Republic.

Earnestly, confidently, I appeal to the Senate for its votes.