Our party is in itself a Republic with universal suffrage, and until a measure is adopted by the party no Republican President can make it a party test.
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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Nor will any Republican Senator admit that the President can impose his own sole will upon the Republican party.
I hand it over to the most careful scrutiny, knowing that the President can take no just exception to it, unless he insists upon limiting proper debate, and boldly denies the right of a Senator to express himself freely on great acts of…
To those who know the motives of my life it is superfluous for me to add that I sought simply the good of my country and Humanity, including especially the good of the African race, to which our country owes so much.
During this last session, I have opposed the Presidential policy on an important question,--but always without one word touching motives, or one suggestion of corruption on his part, although I never doubted that there were actors in the…
The Senate and the country have an interest in knowing the truth of this matter, and so also has the Republican party, which cannot be indifferent to pretensions in its name; nor will anything but the completest frankness be proper for the…
I do this with unspeakable reluctance, but in the discharge of a public duty where the claims of patriotism are above even those of self-defence.
All this was trivial enough; but numerous appeals to me from opposite parts of the country show that good people have been diverted by these allegations from the question of principle involved.
He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city; and so the President, ruling his spirit in subjection to the humane principles of International Law and the Constitution of his country, will be greater than if he had taken…
Let this be attempted, and our Republic will become an example worthy of its name and of the civilization which it represents, while Republican Institutions have new glory.
It is a sincere and humane effort on our part, in the spirit of peace, to reconcile Hayti and Dominica, and to establish tranquillity throughout the island.
Meanwhile to my mind there is something better than belligerent intervention and acts of war with the menace of absorption at untold cost of treasure.
No question equal in magnitude, unless it be that of Slavery, has arisen since the days of Washington.
Is there any Senator ready at all times to seek the elevation of the African race?
I speak now against that lawlessness on the coasts of San Domingo, of which the President is the head; and I speak also for the African race, which the President has trampled down.
It is a thousand times impolitic also; for it teaches the African race that they are only victims for sacrifice.
How vain to expect their sympathy and coöperation in the support of the National Government, if the President, by his own mere will, and in the plenitude of kingly prerogative, can strike at the independence of the Black Republic, and…
How vain are professions in their behalf, if we set the example of outrage!
Another reason for retracing the false steps already taken will be found in our duty to the African race, of whom there are four millions within our borders, recognized as equal before the Law.
One strikes at national life and the other at individual life, while both strike at the African race.
How can we expect to put down the Ku-Klux at the South, when we set in motion another proceeding kindred in constant insubordination to Law and Constitution?
Pray, Sir, with what face can we insist upon obedience to Law and respect for the African race, while we are openly engaged in lawlessness on the coasts of San Domingo and outrage upon the African race represented by the Black Republic?
Surely our efforts at home must be weakened by the drama we are now playing abroad.
Beside the essential equity of such submission, and the moral dignity it would confer upon the Republic, which rises when it stoops to Law, there are two other reasons of irresistible force at this moment.
Before considering the treaty or any question of acquisition, we must at least put ourselves right as a nation; nor do I see how this can be done without retracing our steps, and consenting to act in subordination to International Law and…
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