Nothing but a party spirit which forgets the obligations of Christian duty could treat it with indifference, much less make it the occasion of misrepresentation.
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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By no effort of ingenuity or malignity can it be tortured into anything but an offer of reconciliation, while the very letter of acceptance, where it appears, declares the established supremacy of Equal Rights.
But these things are forgotten; the Sermon on the Mount is forgotten also; the Beatitudes are put aside.
If not war, they would preserve at least the passions of war, and instead of peace would scatter distrust and defiance.
For me there can be but one course on this issue, and the moment it was presented I seemed to behold, for the first time, the dawn of that better era in our country when the Equal Rights of All should be placed under the safeguard of…
Had I failed to sympathize with this endeavor, I should have been false to the record of my life.
My first public utterance, as far back as July 4, 1845, was to commend the cause of Peace, which from that early day, amidst the contentions of public duty and the terrible responsibilities of war, has never been absent from my mind.
The usage of civilized nations is against placing on regimental colors the names of victories gained over fellow-countrymen.
In this work it is needless to say there is no place for any sentiment of hate or any suggestion of vengeance.
There can be no exaction and no punishment beyond the necessity of the case,--nothing harsh, nothing excessive.
In the same spirit, I deemed it my duty to oppose the efforts made in the winter of 1865 to authorize Retaliation, differing from valued friends.
Here Reconciliation is associated with Reconstruction on the basis of the Equality of All Men.
And here is the distinction never to be forgotten: Nothing for vengeance; everything for justice.
Our first duty is to provide safeguards for the future.
If there are any who ever maintained a policy of hate, I was never so minded; and now in protesting against any such policy, I only act in obedience to the irresistible promptings of my soul.
There must be an end also to belligerent passions; and the freedman, assured in rights, must enter upon a new career of happiness and prosperity.
And now, in the hope of its accomplishment, I forget personal consequences, and think only of the inestimable good.
This is clear: in spite of politicians, and against their earnest efforts, the people represented in the Democratic Convention adopted a Republican nomination and platform.
A popular uprising, stirred by irresistible instinct, triumphed over all resistance.
The people were wiser than their leaders,--illustrating again the saying of the French statesman, so experienced in human affairs, that above the wisdom of any individual, however great, is the wisdom of all.
The longing for peace, which in existing antagonisms of party was without effective expression, at last found free course.
Accordingly the original Republican who had announced himself ready to “clasp hands” in peace was accepted on a Republican platform, declaring support of the three Constitutional amendments, and placing in the foreground the great truth…
We have this day substantially turned our backs upon the Past.
It is like the credit or good-will of an established mercantile house, which stands often instead of capital; and then the fact that the proceeds are to be absorbed in the redemption of the first Five-Twenties, so often assailed, will most…
The experiment can do no good, while it may do harm.
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