Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I think I will start just by returning to the 1800s and a Senator from Massachusetts, Senator Sumner. Senator Sumner later played a key role in the civil rights debate, which is why I am returning to that story. I think it is a story about the Senate floor. Sumner gave a speech about Kansas being admitted into the Union, and he was a Republican Senator who called out two Democratic Senators, insulting one of them. And a Representative from the House of Representatives, on the other end of this corridor, came over here. His name was Preston Brooks, and he took considerable offense, and he proceeded to come to the Senate floor and cane Senator Sumner. Senator Sumner was gravely injured, but he did recover--recovering slowly. He served for another 18 years, which leads me to the fact that he proceeded to put forward civil rights legislation in 1875--in 1875--150 years ago--almost 150 years ago, 145 years ago. And so he argued after the Civil War that our Black Americans were being discriminated against and it needed to end; that anyone should go into any public accommodation and be treated equally here in the United States of America--a Constitution that says: All men--and let's include women--are created equally.…”