Read the document introduction and the excerpt, and apply your knowledge of American history in order to answer the questions that follow. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts is best remembered for his role in a dramatic and infamous event in Senate history—what has become known as the “Caning of Sumner.” Just days earlier, Sumner had delivered a fiery speech entitled “The Crime Against Kansas,” in which he railed against the institution of slavery and unleashed a stream of vitriol against the senators who defended it. Together with Charles Sumner in the Senate, the Pennsylvania native opposed President Lincoln's Reconstruction plan as too lenient. [59], Sumner's radical theory of Reconstruction proposed that nothing beyond the confines of the Constitution restricted the Congress in determining how to treat the eleven defeated states, but that even that document had to be read in light of the Declaration of Independence, which he saw as an essential part of fundamental law. From the time he entered public life till he died he was a strong force constantly working for righteousness….To Sumner more than to any single man, except possibly Lincoln, the colored race owes its emancipation and such measure of equal rights as it now enjoys. [68] According to treaty, native Alaskan tribes were excluded from United States citizenship. Sumner, teaming with House leader Thaddeus Stevens, battled Andrew Johnson's reconstruction plans and sought to impose a Radical program on the South. But Sumner's idea was that any United States regiment, that would in the future enlist southerners as well as northerners, should not carry on its ensigns any insult to those who joined it. Sumner bitterly opposed Grant's re-election by supporting the Liberal Republican candidate Horace Greeley in 1872 and lost his power inside the Republican Party. Sumner introduced an alternative amendment that combined the Thirteenth Amendment with elements of the Fourteenth Amendment. Let her be impeached in character, or any proposition made to shut her out from the extension of her wantonness, and no extravagance of manner or hardihood of assertion is then too great for this senator. "… Let him hear that every man of worth in New England loves his virtues.[107]. The episode contributed significantly to the polarization of the country leading up to the Civil War. Mr. Lincoln later recalled: “Sumner declined to stand up with me, back to back, to see which was the tallest man, and made a fine speech about being the time for uniting our … In December 1872, he introduced a Senate resolution providing that Civil War battle names should not appear as "battle honors" on the regimental flags of the U.S. Army. In 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts delivered a speech to Congress condemning the acts of violence committed by proslavery forces in Kansas. Cohen, Victor H. "Charles Sumner and the Trent Affair", Paul Goodman, "David Donald's Charles Sumner Reconsidered" in. 49 W. 45th Street will be disturbed; and the rebel region will be handed over to misrule & anarchy." [22], Sumner took his Senate seat in late 1851 as a Free Soil Democrat. [77] The treaty was formally submitted to the United States Senate on January 10, 1870. His platform presence was imposing. In his eyes, the speech was "a gauntlet thrown down, a challenge to the ‘Slave Power’ to admit once and for all that it were encircling the free states with their tentacular grip and gradually siphoning off the breath of democracy-loving citizens. [24] The motivation of the Slave Power, he said, was to rape a virgin territory: Not in any common lust for power did this uncommon tragedy have its origin. He spoke against the Mexican–American War and made an impassioned appeal for freedom and peace. He delivered his first speech following his return on June 4, 1860, during the 1860 presidential election. Charles Sumner was born on January 6, 1811 in Boston, Massachusetts. Senators begged Sumner to withdraw his amendment and let them adjourn after a long and tiring day. In 1869, he asserted that Britain should pay damages for not merely the raiders, but also "that other damage, immense and infinite, caused by the prolongation of the war." According to historian Eric Foner, during the 1960s, revisionist historians have reinterpreted Reconstruction "in the light of changed attitudes toward the place of blacks within American society. [96], In the aftermath, Mississippi senator Lucius Lamar's eulogy for Sumner was controversial enough considering his southern heritage that the incident resulted in Lamar's inclusion in Profiles in Courage. He demanded $2,000,000,000 for these "national claims" in addition to $125,000,000 for damages from the raiders. Instead, Sumner helped organize the Free Soil Party, which opposed both the Democrats and the Whigs, who had nominated Zachary Taylor, a slave-owning Southerner, for president. He took his position and kept it…. Sumner was born on Irving Street in Boston on January 6, 1811. William H. Seward and Russian representative Edouard de Stoeckl met in Washington, D.C., and negotiated a treaty for the annexation and sale of the Russian American territory of Alaska to the United States for $7,200,000. In fact, he had been the victim of a vicious attack in the U.S. Capitol in 1856 when he had beaten with a … of Charles Sumner by Moorfield Storey, American Historical Review, vI, 157-159 354 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY gressed, the revisionists of the Reconstruction period classed The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1883 when it decided a group of cases known as the Civil Rights Cases. "[44], Sumner returned to the Senate in 1859. who were "well received" by the other students after the lecture. Sumner was knocked down and trapped under the heavy desk, which was bolted to the floor, but Brooks continued to strike Sumner until Sumner ripped the desk from the floor. [41] Sumner then toured several countries, including Germany and Scotland, before returning to Washington where he spent only a few days in the Senate in December. [1] On May 22, 1856, South Carolina Democratic congressman Preston Brooks nearly killed Sumner with a cane on the Senate floor after Sumner delivered an anti-slavery speech, "The Crime Against Kansas. ", Sumner had some influence over J. Lothrop Motley, the U.S. ambassador to Britain, causing him to disregard the instructions of Secretary of State Hamilton Fish on the matter, though not as far as some historians have indicated. You have not forgotten that terrible decision where a most unrighteous judgment was sustained by a falsification of history. Sumner's friend Senator Carl Schurz praised Sumner's integrity, his "moral courage," the "sincerity of his convictions," and the "disinterestedness of his motives." He advocated prison reform. Media related to Charles Sumner at Wikimedia Commons, For other people named Charles Sumner, see, "Senator Sumner" redirects here. [67] President Johnson submitted the treaty to Congress for ratification with Sumner's approval and on April 9, his foreign relations committee approved and sent the treaty to the Senate. Stumbling "into politics largely by accident", elevated to the United States Senate largely by chance, willing to indulge in "Jacksonian demagoguery" for the sake of political expediency, Sumner became a bitter and potent agitator of sectional conflict. Afterwards, Sumner verbally attacked authors of the Act, Democratic Senators Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of South Carolina. His friends, I remember, were told that they would find Sumner a man of the world like the rest; "it is quite impossible to be at Washington and not bend; he will bend as the rest have done." The treaty won its needed two-thirds majority by one vote. This offended President Grant, but while it would be given as the official reason for Motley's removal, was not really so pressing: the dismissal took place a year after Motley's alleged misbehavior, and the real reason was an act of spite by the president against Sumner. "Charles Sumner." Angry about the April assassination of Lincoln and the bloodshed of the war, these Republicans—called \"Radical Republicans\"—wanted to pass laws that would guarantee black rights, punish Confederate leaders, and change Southern institutions that promoted racism. Cabral. Wendell Phillips letter, 'Boston Daily Advertiser,' March 11, 1873. His election marked a sharp break in Massachusetts politics, as his abolitionist politics contrasted sharply those of his most well-known predecessor in the seat, Daniel Webster, who had been one of the foremost supporters of the Compromise of 1850 and its Fugitive Slave Act. Of course he has chosen a mistress to whom he has made his vows, and who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight—I mean the harlot, slavery. Thousands attended rallies in support of Sumner in Boston, Albany, Cleveland, Detroit, New Haven, New York, and Providence. Sumner's committee voted against annexation and at Sumner's suggestion and quite possibly to save the party from an ugly fight or the president from embarrassment, the Senate held its debate of the treaty behind closed doors in executive session. [50] Sumner had counseled Lincoln in May to make the end of slavery the primary objective, as Sumner believed Lincoln's policy to save the Union would be impossible without abolishing slavery. . Their goal, he alleged, was to spread slavery through the free states that had made it illegal. Charles Sumner Reconstruction On Quotes. It is the rape of a virgin Territory, compelling it to the hateful embrace of slavery; and it may be clearly traced to a depraved desire for a new Slave State, hideous offspring of such a crime, in the hope of adding to the power of slavery in the National Government.[25]. He declined to accept their nomination for U.S Representative in 1848. Taylor was a slaveholding southerner, and Sumner believed the Whigs had thus betrayed their strong base of support from northern abolitionists. In "The Barbarism of Slavery", he attacked attempts to depict slavery as a benevolent institution, said it had stifled economic development in the South and that it left slaveholders reliant on "the bludgeon, the revolver, and the bowie-knife". New York, NY 10036, Our Collection: Sumner's previously critical biographer David Herbert Donald, in the second volume of his biography, Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man (1970), was much more favorable to Sumner, and though critical, recognized his large contribution to the positive accomplishments of Reconstruction. Sumner likewise differed with President Ulysses Grant on many postwar issues. However, Sumner's Pulitzer-prize-winning biographer, David Donald, presents Sumner in his first volume, Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War (1960), as an insufferably arrogant moralist; an egoist bloated with pride; pontifical and Olympian, and unable to distinguish between large issues and small ones. "Judge," he said, "tell Emerson how much I love and revere him." Sumner stated that the Union government had the power to invoke martial law and emancipate the slaves. Subscribe Charles Sumner — American Politician born on January 06, 1811, died on March 11, 1874 Charles Sumner was an American politician and senator from Massachusetts. Arguing before the Massachusetts Supreme Court, Sumner noted that schools for blacks were physically inferior and that segregation bred harmful psychological and sociological effects—arguments that would be made in Brown v. Board of Education over a century later. [8]:14 The family attended Trinity Church, but after 1825, they occupied a pew in King's Chapel. In 1834, Sumner was admitted to the bar, entering private practice in Boston, where he partnered with George Stillman Hillard. "[38] When he spent months convalescing, his political enemies ridiculed him and accused him of cowardice for not resuming his duties. [14], He joined other Americans who were studying medicine on morning rounds at the city's great hospitals. The letters provided critical information on political sentiment in Britain and supported the envoys' return to the British. His lofty themes and stately eloquence made a profound impression. He graduated in 1830 from Harvard College (where he lived in Hollis Hall), and in 1834 from Harvard Law School where he studied jurisprudence with his friend Joseph Story. [50] The speech caused controversy among the conservative Boston press. When the 42nd U.S. Congress convened on March 4, 1871, Senators affiliated with President Grant, known as "New Radicals" voted to oust Sumner from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairmanship. One was inscribed "Hit him again." The British government dispatched 8,000 British troops on the Canada–US border and efforts were made to strengthen the British fleet. Historian William Gienapp has concluded that Brooks' "assault was of critical importance in transforming the struggling Republican party into a major political force. He fell into a dispute with President Ulysses Grant, a fellow Republican, over the control of Santo Domingo leading to the stripping of his power in the Senate and his subsequent effort to defeat Grant's re-election. Following the annexation of Texas as a new slave-holding state in 1845, Sumner took an active role in the anti-slavery movement. [8]:104 By creating a society where "knowledge, virtue and religion" took precedence, "the most forlorn shall grow into forms of unimagined strength and beauty. Moorfield Storey, Sumner's private secretary for two years and subsequent biographer, seeing some of the same qualities, interprets them more charitably: Charles Sumner was a great man in his absolute fidelity to principle, his clear perception of what his country needed, his unflinching courage, his perfect sincerity, his persistent devotion to duty, his indifference to selfish considerations, his high scorn of anything petty or mean. Sen. Sumner stated that he had only promised to give the treaty friendly consideration. "The Caning of Charles Sumner: Slavery, Race, and Ideology in the Age of the Civil War", This page was last edited on 8 March 2021, at 06:50. For more than three hours he denounced it as a violation of the Constitution, an affront to the public conscience, and an offense against divine law. Though the conventions of both major parties had just affirmed the finality of every provision of the Compromise of 1850, including the Fugitive Slave Act, Sumner called for the Act's repeal. Charles Sumner on Reconstruction and the South, 1866 By 1865 there were sharp differences of opinion about the rights of freedmen and the governance of the defeated Southern states among political leaders in Congress and the Executive Branch in Washington, DC. Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. He said: The senator from South Carolina has read many books of chivalry, and believes himself a chivalrous knight with sentiments of honor and courage. In Congress, he did not rush into party position. . His proposal did not affect the vast majority of battle-flags, as nearly all the regiments that fought had been state regiments, and these were not covered. From 1836 to 1837, Sumner lectured at Harvard Law School. Originally modest and not self-confident, the result of his long contest was to make him egotistical and dogmatic. During these debates, however, one unlikely ally emerged when Congressman Charles Hays of Alabama passionately spoke in favor of Sumner’s legislation. I was glad to see this, though with American impressions, it seemed very strange. As one of the Radical Republican leaders in the post-war Senate, Sumner fought to provide equal civil and voting rights for the freedmen on the grounds that "consent of the governed" was a basic principle of American republicanism and in order to keep ex-Confederates from gaining political offices and undoing the North's victory in the Civil War. The impasse was broken after three months and Sumner was elected by a one-vote majority on April 24, 1851. 247–51. After the war Sumner led in opposing President Andrew Johnson's conservative Reconstruction policies. He said Alaska would increase America's borders, spread republican institutions, and represent an act of friendship with Russia. Charles Sumner Obtains a Decree of Divorce, May 11, 1873, "CJOnline.com – Q&A: Sumner school named after anti-slavery leader", National Register of Historical Places – Kansas (KS), Shawnee County, "Charles Sumner and the Annexation of the Dominican Republic", Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, U.S. senator (Class 1) from Massachusetts, United States senators from Massachusetts, United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Unknown Soldiers for World War II and the Korean War (1958), Unknown Soldier for the Vietnam War (1984), List of Union Civil War monuments and memorials, List of memorials to the Grand Army of the Republic, Confederate artworks in the United States Capitol, List of Confederate monuments and memorials, Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials. Create a chart with columns representing ideas about the treatment of the South following the Civil War. In opposing the Mexican–American War, he considered it a war of aggression but was primarily concerned that captured territories would expand slavery westward. [23] After his speech, a Senator from Alabama urged that there be no reply: "The ravings of a maniac may sometimes be dangerous, but the barking of a puppy never did any harm." The Radicals primarily advocated the immediate abolition of slavery and the destruction of the Southern planter class. Judicial baseness reached its lowest point on that occasion. For Sumner's civil rights bill they gave no support at all, but Sumner joined them because he convinced himself that the time had come for reconciliation, and that Democrats were sincere in declaring that they would abide by the Reconstruction settlement. The initial treaty by Babcock had not been authorized by the State Department. Gilbert Osofsky. [52] "One war at a time" was Lincoln's response; he then quietly but reluctantly ordered the release of the Confederate captives to British custody and apologized for their capture. Channing believed that human beings had an infinite potential to improve themselves. Avenida Charles Sumner, Distrito Nacional. “It has not been my habit to yield,” Sumner replied. [15] In the course of three more years, he became fluent in Spanish, German, and Italian,[16] and he met with many of the leading statesmen in Europe. In it, Sumner attacked the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. In 1845, he delivered an Independence Day oration on "The True Grandeur of Nations" in Boston. Stephen Puleo. Although Sumner stated he was an "Administration man," in addition to having stopped Grant's Dominican Republic treaty attempt, Sumner had defeated Grant's full repeal of the Tenure of Office Act, blocked Grant's nomination of Alexander Stewart as U.S. Secretary of Treasury, and been a constant harassing force pushing Reconstruction policies faster than Grant had been willing to go. the Rebellion itself will be trampled out forever; the whole country .