He was not only the most clearsighted, brave, and uncompromising friend of my race who had ever stood upon the floor of the Senate, but was to me a loved, honored, and precious personal friend; a man possessing the exalted and matured intellect of a statesman, with the pure and artless heart of a child.
Douglass offers a profound eulogy for Charles Sumner, praising his character, intellect, and unwavering support for the rights of African Americans.
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We (the people of the North) are a charitable people, and in the excess of this feeling we were disposed to put the very best construction upon the strange behavior of our southern brethren.
His iron sentences, cold and harsh, sunk like heavy weights deep into my heart, and stirred up within me a rebellion not soon to be allayed.
The anti-slavery platform had performed its work, and my voice was no longer needed.
Lincoln was not only a great President, but a GREAT MAN--too great to be small in anything.