I have never wished to obtrude myself on their society, so that certain Senators could do with me, as they have boasted they did with others,--refuse to receive their advances, or refuse to recognize them on the floor of the Senate.

There are a great many men who have swung the whip over the plantation, who think they not only rule the plantation, but make up the judgment of the world, and hold the keys not only to political power, as they have done in this country…

The sentiment of Massachusetts, of New England, of the North, approaches unanimity.

They are made up by the verdict of her people, and they understand the question, and from their verdict there is no appeal.

President, I have spoken freely; I shall continue always to speak freely.

I seek no controversy with any man; but I shall express my sentiments frankly, and the more frankly because on this floor my colleague has been smitten down for words spoken in debate, and because there are those who, unmindful of the…

It was severe as Chatham was severe, when he defended the feeble colonies against the giant oppression of the mother country.

I denounce it in the name of the Constitution it violated.

I denounce it in the name of civilization, which it outraged.

What! strike a man when he is pinioned,--when he cannot respond to a blow?

In what code of honor did you get your authority for that?

I do not believe that member has a friend so dear who must not, in his heart of hearts, condemn the act.

Even the member himself, if he has left a spark of that chivalry and gallantry attributed to him, must loathe and scorn the act.

God knows, I do not wish to speak unkindly or in a spirit of revenge; but I owe it to my manhood, and the noble State I in part represent, to express my deep abhorrence of the act.

But, much as I reprobate the act, much more do I reprobate the conduct of those who were by and saw the outrage perpetrated.

And worse,--when he had time to cool, when he had slept on it, he went into the Senate Chamber of the United States, and shocked the sensibilities of the world by approving it.

Resolved, That the Legislature of Massachusetts, in the name of her free and enlightened people, demands for her representatives in the National Legislature entire Freedom of Speech, and will uphold them in the proper exercise of that…

Sumner’s valuable life will be spared until he shall witness the complete overthrow of the execrable system that now brutalizes our brethren in bondage, and brutalizes their oppressors, and disgraces our country.

Sumner had no other weapon in his hand than his pen.

The symbol of the North is the pen; the symbol of the South is the bludgeon.

I have heard of crimes which betoken greater pravity of heart, but never have I heard or read of an act more flagitious in its open defiance of sacred rights, in its ruthless disregard of all humane sentiment and shameless violation of…

The question before us is simply, whether you, here and now, consent to this change in our form of government, and accept the position which it assigns to you,--and whether you agree to transmit to your children this precious inheritance?

I was born free, and I cannot be made a slave.

I bow before the universal intelligence and conscience of my country, and when I think this defective, I claim the privilege of using my poor endeavors to enlighten it.

Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.