And now the South refuses to perform the part which it originally proposed and assumed in this transaction.
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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As the Compromise took its life from the South, so, in the judgment of its own statesmen at the time, and according to unquestionable facts, the South was the conquering party.
Lowndes died before my memory of political events, but he is still endeared by the self-abnegation of a single utterance,--that the Presidency is an office not to be sought or declined,--a sentiment which by its beauty, in one part at…
And here, Sir, at the mention of this name, still so fragrant among us, let me for one moment stop this current of history, to express the honest admiration with which he inspires me.
The House was not disposed to abandon the substantial restriction of Slavery in Missouri for what seemed its unsubstantial prohibition in an unsettled territory.
If citizens go into the Territory thus restricted, they cannot carry with them slaves.
He considered the power of Congress over the Territory as supreme, unlimited, before its admission; that Congress could impose on its Territories any restriction it thought proper; and the people, when they settled therein, did so under a…
Smith, of Maryland, for many years an eminent Senator of that State, but at this time a Representative, while opposing the restriction of Missouri, vindicated the prohibition of Slavery in the Territories.
A generous voice from Virginia recognized at once the right and duty of Congress.
This early effort to interdict Slavery in the Territories by special law is worthy of notice on account of expressions of opinion it drew forth.
Judges left the bench, and clergymen the pulpit, to swell the indignant protest which went up from good men without distinction of party or pursuit.
Through the press and at public meetings, an earnest voice was raised against the admission of Missouri into the Union without the restriction of Slavery.
The original policy of our fathers in the restriction of Slavery was suspended, and this giant wrong threatened to stalk into all the broad national domain.
For the first time in our history, Freedom, after animated struggle, hand to hand, was kept in check by Slavery.
The North, by the prevailing voice of its Representatives, claimed all for Freedom; the South, by its potential command of the Senate, claimed all for Slavery.
The suggestions of Compromise were at this time vain: each party was determined.
It is this proposition I am anxious to effect; but I wish to effect it by some COMPACT which shall be binding upon all parties and all subsequent Legislatures,--which cannot be changed, and will not fluctuate with the diversity of feeling…
If we meet upon principles of reciprocity, we cannot fail to do justice to all.
Death, with inexorable scythe, has mowed down the authors of this compact; but, with conservative hour-glass, the dread destroyer has counted out a succession of years, which now defile before us, like so many sentinels, to guard the…
But this extraordinary lapse of time, with the complete fruition by one party of all the benefits belonging to it under the compact, gives to the transaction an added and most sacred strength.
In its stipulations for Slavery, it was justly repugnant to the conscience of the North, and ought never to have been made; but on that side it has been performed.
I begin, Sir, by assuming that honorable Senators will not act in this spirit,--that they will not wantonly and flagitiously discard any obligation, pledge, or covenant, because they chance to possess the power,--that they will not…
And now, Sir, in the name of that Public Faith which is the very ligament of civil society, and which the great Roman orator tells us it is detestable to break even with an enemy, I arraign this scheme, and hold it up to the judgment of…
Human rights, whether in a multitude or the solitary individual, are entitled to equal and unhesitating support.
It is clear, beyond dispute, that by the overthrow of this Prohibition Slavery will be quickened, and slaves themselves will be multiplied, while new room and verge will be secured for the gloomy operations of Slave Law, under which free…
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