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Charles Sumner
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sumner
Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811 – March 11, 1874) was an American politician and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the U.S. Senate during the American Civil War. During Reconstruction, he fought to minimize the power of the ex-Confederates and guarantee equal rights to the freedmen. He fell into a dispute with fellow Republican President Ulysses Grant on the question of taking control of Santo Domingo. Grant's allies stripped Sumner of his power in the Senate in 1871, and he joined the Liberal Republican movement in an effort to defeat Grant's reelection in 1872.
Sumner changed his political party several times as anti-slavery coalitions rose and fell in the 1830s and 1840s before coalescing in the 1850s as the Republican Party, the affiliation with which he became best known. He devoted his enormous energies to the destruction of what Republicans called the Slave Power, the influence over the federal government of Southern slave owners who sought the continuation and expansion of slavery.[1]
In 1856, a South Carolina Congressman, Democrat Preston Brooks, nearly killed Sumner with a cane on the Senate floor two days after Sumner delivered an intensely anti-slavery speech titled "The Crime Against Kansas."[2] In the speech, Sumner characterized the attacker's cousin,[3][4] South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler, a Democrat, as a pimp for slavery.[5] The widely-reported episode left Sumner severely injured and famous. (In the South, Brooks was a hero, remembered in Brooksville, Florida and Brooks County, Georgia.) It was several years before he could return to the Senate; Massachusetts not only did not replace him, it reelected him, leaving his empty desk in the Senate as a reminder of the incident. The episode contributed significantly to the polarization of the country, leading up to the Civil War.
During the war, Sumner was a leader of the Radical Republican faction that criticized President Abraham Lincoln for being too moderate on the South. One of the most learned statesmen of the era, he specialized in foreign affairs and worked closely with Abraham Lincoln to keep the British and the French from intervening on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Sumner's expertise and energy made him a powerful chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
As the chief Radical leader in the Senate during Reconstruction, Sumner fought hard 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 to block ex-Confederates from power so they would not reverse the gains made from the Union's victory in the Civil War. Sumner, teaming with House leader Thaddeus Stevens, battled Andrew Johnson's reconstruction plans and sought to impose a Radical program on the South. Although Sumner forcefully advocated the annexation of Alaska in the Senate, he was against the annexation of the Dominican Republic, then known by the name of its capital, Santo Domingo. After leading Senators to defeat President Ulysses S. Grant's Santo Domingo Treaty in 1870, Sumner broke with Grant and denounced him in such terms that reconciliation was impossible. In 1871, President Grant and his Secretary of State Hamilton Fish retaliated; through Grant's supporters in the Senate, Sumner was deposed as head of the Foreign Relations Committee. Sumner had become convinced that Grant was a corrupt despot and that the success of Reconstruction policies called for new national leadership. Sumner bitterly opposed Grant's reelection by supporting the Liberal Republican candidate Horace Greeley in 1872 and lost his power inside the Republican Party. Less than two years later, he died in office.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sumner
Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811 – March 11, 1874) was an American politician and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the U.S. Senate during the American Civil War. During Reconstruction, he fought to minimize the power of the ex-Confederates and guarantee equal rights to the freedmen. He fell into a dispute with fellow Republican President Ulysses Grant on the question of taking control of Santo Domingo. Grant's allies stripped Sumner of his power in the Senate in 1871, and he joined the Liberal Republican movement in an effort to defeat Grant's reelection in 1872.
Sumner changed his political party several times as anti-slavery coalitions rose and fell in the 1830s and 1840s before coalescing in the 1850s as the Republican Party, the affiliation with which he became best known. He devoted his enormous energies to the destruction of what Republicans called the Slave Power, the influence over the federal government of Southern slave owners who sought the continuation and expansion of slavery.[1]
In 1856, a South Carolina Congressman, Democrat Preston Brooks, nearly killed Sumner with a cane on the Senate floor two days after Sumner delivered an intensely anti-slavery speech titled "The Crime Against Kansas."[2] In the speech, Sumner characterized the attacker's cousin,[3][4] South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler, a Democrat, as a pimp for slavery.[5] The widely-reported episode left Sumner severely injured and famous. (In the South, Brooks was a hero, remembered in Brooksville, Florida and Brooks County, Georgia.) It was several years before he could return to the Senate; Massachusetts not only did not replace him, it reelected him, leaving his empty desk in the Senate as a reminder of the incident. The episode contributed significantly to the polarization of the country, leading up to the Civil War.
During the war, Sumner was a leader of the Radical Republican faction that criticized President Abraham Lincoln for being too moderate on the South. One of the most learned statesmen of the era, he specialized in foreign affairs and worked closely with Abraham Lincoln to keep the British and the French from intervening on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Sumner's expertise and energy made him a powerful chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
As the chief Radical leader in the Senate during Reconstruction, Sumner fought hard 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 to block ex-Confederates from power so they would not reverse the gains made from the Union's victory in the Civil War. Sumner, teaming with House leader Thaddeus Stevens, battled Andrew Johnson's reconstruction plans and sought to impose a Radical program on the South. Although Sumner forcefully advocated the annexation of Alaska in the Senate, he was against the annexation of the Dominican Republic, then known by the name of its capital, Santo Domingo. After leading Senators to defeat President Ulysses S. Grant's Santo Domingo Treaty in 1870, Sumner broke with Grant and denounced him in such terms that reconciliation was impossible. In 1871, President Grant and his Secretary of State Hamilton Fish retaliated; through Grant's supporters in the Senate, Sumner was deposed as head of the Foreign Relations Committee. Sumner had become convinced that Grant was a corrupt despot and that the success of Reconstruction policies called for new national leadership. Sumner bitterly opposed Grant's reelection by supporting the Liberal Republican candidate Horace Greeley in 1872 and lost his power inside the Republican Party. Less than two years later, he died in office.
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History is FUN presents The Early Life of Charles Sumner. A fun and educational biography. A great way to learn about Charles Sumner and his life before bein...
Thank you, my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that December 6, is the anniversary of the birth of academic lawyer and a powerful orator Charles Sumner who "was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the U.S. Senate during the American Civil War."
Sadly but unsurprisingly South Carolina Democrat-Congressman Preston Brooks caned Charles Sumner because of his outspoken stand against slavery in 1856.
Rest in peace Charles Sumner.
I was exhausted on Friday, December 6, 2019 and slept 15 hours from 0600 - 2100 Romeo time.
December 6 is the anniversary of the birth of eldest adopted son who is imprisoned at the Federal prison at Gilmer, West Virginia. He is scheduled fro a parole hearing next fall.
Early Life of Charles Sumner
History is FUN presents The Early Life of Charles Sumner. A fun and educational biography. A great way to learn about Charles Sumner and his life before being elected to the US Senate in 1851. Part of the Great Men of Boston series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFN1W8bsdxo
Images
1. Charles Sumner standing.
2. Senator Charles Sumner
3. Charles Sumner and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow seated.
4.
Biographies
1. bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S001068
2. battlefields.org/learn/biographies/charles-sumner
Background from bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S001068
SUMNER, Charles, (1811 - 1874)
Senate Years of Service: 1851-1874
Party: Free Soil; Opposition; Republican; Liberal Republican
SUMNER, Charles, a Senator from Massachusetts; born in Boston, Mass., January 6, 1811; attended the Boston Latin School; graduated from Harvard University in 1830 and from the Harvard Law School in 1833; admitted to the bar the following year and commenced the practice of law in Boston, Mass.; lectured at the Harvard Law School 1836-1837; traveled extensively in Europe 1837-1840; declined the Whig nomination in 1846 for election to the Thirtieth Congress; one of the founders of the Free Soil Party in 1848; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1848 on the Free Soil ticket to the Thirty-first Congress; elected to the United States Senate in 1851 as a Free Soiler; reelected as a Republican in 1857, 1863, and 1869 and served from April 24, 1851, until his death; chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations (Thirty-seventh through Forty-first Congresses); removed as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations in 1871 as a result of differences with President Ulysses S. Grant over policy in Santo Domingo; chairman, Committee on Privileges and Elections (Forty-second Congress); was assaulted in the Senate chamber by Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina on May 22, 1856, and due to injuries received did not resume full Senate duties until December 1859; died in Washington, D.C., March 11, 1874; lay in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, March 13, 1874; interment in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.
Bibliography
Dictionary of American Biography; The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law; Donald, David Herbert. Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War. New York: Knopf, 1960; Donald, David Herbert. Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man. New York: Knopf, 1970."
2. Background from battlefields.org/learn/biographies/charles-sumner
"Charles Sumner
TITLE Senator
WAR & AFFILIATION Civil War Union
DATE OF BIRTH - January 6, 1811
DEATH - March 11, 1874
Famous for his scathing criticism of the Kansas-Nebraska Act that provoked an attack upon himself in the Senate Chamber, Charles Sumner was a prominent voice of the anti-slavery North. Charles was born in Boston, on January 6, 1811, the son of a Harvard educated lawyer and abolitionist, Charles Pinckney Sumner. The younger Charles followed a similar path, graduating Harvard College and Harvard Law School in the 1830s. He developed a zeal for law but a visit to Washington, D.C. soured his taste for politics. Sumner practiced law in Boston and then studied in Europe for the rest of the decade. After he returned home in the 1840s, Sumner primarily became an editor and lecturer. On July 4, 1845, he delivered an oration on “The True Grandeur of Nations” that redefined his career. Sumner’s passionate address demonstrated his talents. His physical appearance at six feet and four inches matched his powerful voice and outspoken opinions.
Sumner assisted Horace Mann with reforming public education in their native state, advocated prison reform, and opposed war with Mexico. Though initially against pursuing a political career, Sumner rallied northern Whigs, known as the “Conscience Whigs,” together when their parent party split following the nomination of Zachary Taylor, a slaveholding southerner, for president. This schism ultimately produced the Free Soil Party. Though unsuccessful in carrying a single state in the 1848 presidential election, Sumner expressed satisfaction that their efforts brought the issue of slavery to the forefront of American politics.
Three years later, a coalition between the Free Soilers and Massachusetts Democrats pushed Sumner through to the United States Senate, representing his native state. Sumner had opposed the Compromise of 1850 and Fugitive Slave Act and continued to campaign against slavery once he became a senator. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, immediately drawing Sumner’s rebuke. When, two years later, the effects of the bill produced violence in Kansas between pro- and anti-slavery proponents, Sumner monitored the situation from afar and gathered his thoughts into an address titled “The Crime Against Kansas.” He delivered this speech for two days on May 19-20, 1856.
Sumner particularly singled out Andrew P. Butler, a United States Senator from South Carolina who co-authored the Kansas-Nebraska Act with Stephen Douglas. Two days later, Preston Brooks, a United States Representative from South Carolina and cousin to Butler, approached Sumner while he was alone in the Senate chamber and beat him with a cane. His traumatic injuries kept Sumner absent through most of the next four years as a congressman, but he was nevertheless reelected to a second term and continued to oppose any compromise with the south in the years leading up to the Civil War.
During the war, he served as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. In this role, he diplomatically handled the Trent Affair, in which two captured Confederate diplomats were captured from a British ship. Sumner worked to convince President Abraham Lincoln to release the diplomats to calm tensions with the British government and prevent their interference in the Civil War. Overall, his, however, his platform was more radical for the time, actively pushing for emancipation, the use of black soldiers, the establishment of the Freedman’s Bureau, and a punitive approach to Reconstruction. In his mind, the southern states had committed “state suicide” and had devolved to the legal status of territories seeking to enter the United States.
Opposition to his vision for Reconstruction frustrated Sumner. Abraham Lincoln had not shared his radical view, and Andrew Johnson did not carry out the stringent policies for Reconstruction and southern readmission in the United States sought by Sumner. In 1871, Ulysses S. Grant removed Sumner from the Committee on Foreign Relations and a reconciliatory gesture by Sumner toward the south to remove names of battles from regimental flags only produced censure from the Massachusetts legislature. A campaign to repair Sumner’s name resulted in the legislature rescinding their remarks on March 10, 1874. Sumner listened as the resolution was presented that day in the Senate and returned to his Washington, D.C. home. That night he had a heart attack and died the following day, his legacy restored as a man who devoutly advocated for the union and his fellow man."
FYI Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. CPT Scott Sharon SSG William Jones PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord PV2 Brian HatcherCapt Rich BuckleyCW4 G.L. SmithSPC Russ BoltonPO2 John ZodunCpl James R. " Jim" Gossett Jr
SPC Jon O.]SP5 Jeannie CarleSPC Chris Bayner-CwikTSgt David L.
Sadly but unsurprisingly South Carolina Democrat-Congressman Preston Brooks caned Charles Sumner because of his outspoken stand against slavery in 1856.
Rest in peace Charles Sumner.
I was exhausted on Friday, December 6, 2019 and slept 15 hours from 0600 - 2100 Romeo time.
December 6 is the anniversary of the birth of eldest adopted son who is imprisoned at the Federal prison at Gilmer, West Virginia. He is scheduled fro a parole hearing next fall.
Early Life of Charles Sumner
History is FUN presents The Early Life of Charles Sumner. A fun and educational biography. A great way to learn about Charles Sumner and his life before being elected to the US Senate in 1851. Part of the Great Men of Boston series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFN1W8bsdxo
Images
1. Charles Sumner standing.
2. Senator Charles Sumner
3. Charles Sumner and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow seated.
4.
Biographies
1. bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S001068
2. battlefields.org/learn/biographies/charles-sumner
Background from bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S001068
SUMNER, Charles, (1811 - 1874)
Senate Years of Service: 1851-1874
Party: Free Soil; Opposition; Republican; Liberal Republican
SUMNER, Charles, a Senator from Massachusetts; born in Boston, Mass., January 6, 1811; attended the Boston Latin School; graduated from Harvard University in 1830 and from the Harvard Law School in 1833; admitted to the bar the following year and commenced the practice of law in Boston, Mass.; lectured at the Harvard Law School 1836-1837; traveled extensively in Europe 1837-1840; declined the Whig nomination in 1846 for election to the Thirtieth Congress; one of the founders of the Free Soil Party in 1848; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1848 on the Free Soil ticket to the Thirty-first Congress; elected to the United States Senate in 1851 as a Free Soiler; reelected as a Republican in 1857, 1863, and 1869 and served from April 24, 1851, until his death; chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations (Thirty-seventh through Forty-first Congresses); removed as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations in 1871 as a result of differences with President Ulysses S. Grant over policy in Santo Domingo; chairman, Committee on Privileges and Elections (Forty-second Congress); was assaulted in the Senate chamber by Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina on May 22, 1856, and due to injuries received did not resume full Senate duties until December 1859; died in Washington, D.C., March 11, 1874; lay in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, March 13, 1874; interment in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.
Bibliography
Dictionary of American Biography; The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law; Donald, David Herbert. Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War. New York: Knopf, 1960; Donald, David Herbert. Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man. New York: Knopf, 1970."
2. Background from battlefields.org/learn/biographies/charles-sumner
"Charles Sumner
TITLE Senator
WAR & AFFILIATION Civil War Union
DATE OF BIRTH - January 6, 1811
DEATH - March 11, 1874
Famous for his scathing criticism of the Kansas-Nebraska Act that provoked an attack upon himself in the Senate Chamber, Charles Sumner was a prominent voice of the anti-slavery North. Charles was born in Boston, on January 6, 1811, the son of a Harvard educated lawyer and abolitionist, Charles Pinckney Sumner. The younger Charles followed a similar path, graduating Harvard College and Harvard Law School in the 1830s. He developed a zeal for law but a visit to Washington, D.C. soured his taste for politics. Sumner practiced law in Boston and then studied in Europe for the rest of the decade. After he returned home in the 1840s, Sumner primarily became an editor and lecturer. On July 4, 1845, he delivered an oration on “The True Grandeur of Nations” that redefined his career. Sumner’s passionate address demonstrated his talents. His physical appearance at six feet and four inches matched his powerful voice and outspoken opinions.
Sumner assisted Horace Mann with reforming public education in their native state, advocated prison reform, and opposed war with Mexico. Though initially against pursuing a political career, Sumner rallied northern Whigs, known as the “Conscience Whigs,” together when their parent party split following the nomination of Zachary Taylor, a slaveholding southerner, for president. This schism ultimately produced the Free Soil Party. Though unsuccessful in carrying a single state in the 1848 presidential election, Sumner expressed satisfaction that their efforts brought the issue of slavery to the forefront of American politics.
Three years later, a coalition between the Free Soilers and Massachusetts Democrats pushed Sumner through to the United States Senate, representing his native state. Sumner had opposed the Compromise of 1850 and Fugitive Slave Act and continued to campaign against slavery once he became a senator. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, immediately drawing Sumner’s rebuke. When, two years later, the effects of the bill produced violence in Kansas between pro- and anti-slavery proponents, Sumner monitored the situation from afar and gathered his thoughts into an address titled “The Crime Against Kansas.” He delivered this speech for two days on May 19-20, 1856.
Sumner particularly singled out Andrew P. Butler, a United States Senator from South Carolina who co-authored the Kansas-Nebraska Act with Stephen Douglas. Two days later, Preston Brooks, a United States Representative from South Carolina and cousin to Butler, approached Sumner while he was alone in the Senate chamber and beat him with a cane. His traumatic injuries kept Sumner absent through most of the next four years as a congressman, but he was nevertheless reelected to a second term and continued to oppose any compromise with the south in the years leading up to the Civil War.
During the war, he served as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. In this role, he diplomatically handled the Trent Affair, in which two captured Confederate diplomats were captured from a British ship. Sumner worked to convince President Abraham Lincoln to release the diplomats to calm tensions with the British government and prevent their interference in the Civil War. Overall, his, however, his platform was more radical for the time, actively pushing for emancipation, the use of black soldiers, the establishment of the Freedman’s Bureau, and a punitive approach to Reconstruction. In his mind, the southern states had committed “state suicide” and had devolved to the legal status of territories seeking to enter the United States.
Opposition to his vision for Reconstruction frustrated Sumner. Abraham Lincoln had not shared his radical view, and Andrew Johnson did not carry out the stringent policies for Reconstruction and southern readmission in the United States sought by Sumner. In 1871, Ulysses S. Grant removed Sumner from the Committee on Foreign Relations and a reconciliatory gesture by Sumner toward the south to remove names of battles from regimental flags only produced censure from the Massachusetts legislature. A campaign to repair Sumner’s name resulted in the legislature rescinding their remarks on March 10, 1874. Sumner listened as the resolution was presented that day in the Senate and returned to his Washington, D.C. home. That night he had a heart attack and died the following day, his legacy restored as a man who devoutly advocated for the union and his fellow man."
FYI Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. CPT Scott Sharon SSG William Jones PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord PV2 Brian HatcherCapt Rich BuckleyCW4 G.L. SmithSPC Russ BoltonPO2 John ZodunCpl James R. " Jim" Gossett Jr
SPC Jon O.]SP5 Jeannie CarleSPC Chris Bayner-CwikTSgt David L.
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LTC Stephen F. There's a predominantly African-American historic High School in St Louis named after him.
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Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
SPC Margaret Higgins Margaret you know I left my heart in San Francisco long ago, so you're the only one who can help me find it! :-))
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