The real successor to John Quincy Adams as the protagonist of the
anti-slavery cause in Congress proved to be not Seward but Charles
Sumner of Massachusetts. This newcomer entered the Senate without
previous legislative experience but with an unusual equipment for
the role he was to play. A graduate of Harvard College at the age of
nineteen, he had entered upon the study of law in the newly organized
law school in which Joseph Story held one of the two professorships.
He was admitted to the bar in 1834, but three years later he left his
slender law practice for a long period of European travel. This three
years' sojourn brought him into intimate touch with the leading spirits
in arts, letters, and public life in England and on the Continent, and
thus ripened his talents to their full maturity. He returned to his
law practice poor in pocket but rich in the possession of lifelong
friendships and happy memories.
Sumner's political career did not begin until 1847, when as a Whig he
not only opposed any further extension of slavery but strove to commit
his party to the policy of emancipation in all the States. Failing in
this attempt, Sumner became an active Free-soiler in 1848. He was twice
a candidate for Congress on the Free-soil ticket but failed of election.
In 1851 he was elected to the United States Senate by a coalition
between his party and the Democrats. This is the only public office he
ever held, but he was continuously reelected until his death in 1874.
John Quincy Adams had addressed audiences trained in the old school,
which did not defend slavery on moral grounds. Charles Sumner faced
audiences of the new school, which upheld the institution as a righteous
moral order. This explains the chief difference in the attitude of the
two leaders. Sumner, like Adams, began as an opponent of pro-slavery
aggression, but he went farther: he attacked the institution itself as a
great moral evil.
As a constitutional lawyer Sumner is not the equal of his predecessor,
Daniel Webster. He is less original, less convincing in the enunciation
of broad general principles. He appears rather as a special pleader
marshaling all available forces against the one institution which
assailed the Union. In this particular work, he surpassed all others,
for, with his unbounded industry, he permitted no precedent, no legal
advantage, no incident of history, no fact in current politics fitted
to strengthen his cause, to escape his untiring search. He showed a
marvelous skill in the selection, arrangement, and presentation of
his materials, and for his models he took the highest forms of classic
forensic utterance.
Sumner exhibited the ordinary aloofness and lack of familiarity with
actual conditions in the South which was characteristic of the New
England abolitionist. He perceived no race problem, no peculiar
difficulty in the readjustments of master and slave which were involved
in emancipation, and he ignored all obstacles to the accomplishment of
his ends. Webster's arraignment of South Carolina was directed against
an alleged erroneous dogma and only incidentally affected personal
morality. The reaction, therefore, was void of bitter resentment.
Sumner's charges were directed against alleged moral turpitude, and
the classic form and scrupulous regard for parliamentary rules which he
observed only added to the feeling of personal resentment on the part of
his opponents. Some of the defenders of slavery were themselves
devoted students of the classics, but they found that the orations of
Demosthenes furnished nothing suited to their purpose. The result was a
humiliating exhibition of weakness, personal abuse, and vindictiveness
on their part.
There was a conspiracy of silence on the slavery question in 1852. Each
of the national parties was definitely committed to the support of the
compromise and especially to the faithful observance of the Fugitive
Slave Law. Free-soilers had distinctly declined in numbers and influence
during the four preceding years. Only a handful of members in each House
of Congress remained unaffiliated with the parties whose platforms had
ordained silence on the one issue of chief public concern. It was by a
mere accident in Massachusetts politics that Charles Sumner was sent to
the Senate as a man free on all public questions.
While the parties were making their nominations for the Presidency,
Sumner sought diligently for an opportunity in the Senate to give
utterance to the sentiments of his party on the repeal of the Fugitive
Slave Act. But not until late in August did he overcome the resistance
of the combined opposition and gain the floor. The watchmen were caught
off guard when Sumner introduced an amendment to an appropriation bill
which enabled him to deliver a carefully prepared address, several hours
in length, calling for the repeal of the law.
The first part of this speech is devoted to the general topic of the
relation of the national Government to slavery and was made in answer
to the demand of Calhoun and his followers for the direct national
recognition of slavery. For such a demand Sumner found no warrant. By
the decision of Lord Mansfield, said he, "the state of slavery"
was declared to be "of such a nature, that it is incapable of being
introduced on any reasons, moral or political, but ONLY BY POSITIVE
LAW.... it is so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it but
positive law." Adopting the same principle, the Supreme Court of the
State of Mississippi, a tribunal of slaveholders, asserted that "slavery
is condemned by reason and the Laws of Nature. It exists, and can ONLY
exist, through municipal regulations." So also declared the Supreme
Court of Kentucky and numerous other tribunals. This aspect of the
subject furnished Sumner occasion for a masterly array of all the
utterances in favor of liberty to be found in the Constitution, in the
Declaration of Independence, in the constitutional conventions, in the
principles of common law. All these led up to and supported the one
grand conclusion that, when Washington took the oath as President of the
United States, "slavery existed nowhere on the national territory"
and therefore "is in no respect a national institution." Apply the
principles of the Constitution in their purity, then, and "in all
national territories slavery will be impossible. On the high seas,
under the national flag, slavery will be impossible. In the District of
Columbia, slavery will instantly cease. Inspired by these principles,
Congress can give no sanction to slavery by the admission of new slave
States. Nowhere under the Constitution can the Nation by legislation or
otherwise, support slavery, hunt slaves, or hold property in man.... As
slavery is banished from the national jurisdiction, it will cease to
vex our national politics. It may linger in the States as a local
institution; but it will no longer engender national animosities when it
no longer demands national support."
The second part of Sumner's address dealt directly with the Fugitive
Slave Act of 1860. It is much less convincing and suggests more of the
characteristics of the special pleader with a difficult case. Sumner
here undertook to prove that Congress exceeded its powers when it
presumed to lay down rules for the rendition of fugitive slaves, and
this task exceeded even his power as a constitutional lawyer.
The circumstances under which Sumner attacked slavery were such as to
have alarmed a less self-centered man, for the two years following the
introduction of the Nebraska bill were marked by the most acrimonious
debate in the history of Congress, and by physical encounters,
challenges, and threats of violence. But though Congressmen carried
concealed weapons, Sumner went his way unarmed and apparently in
complete unconcern as to any personal danger, though it is known that he
was fully aware that in the faithful performance of what he deemed to be
his duty he was incurring the risk of assassination.
The pro-slavery party manifested on all occasions a disposition to make
the most of the weak point in Sumner's constitutional argument against
the Fugitive Slave Law. He was accused of taking an oath to support the
Constitution though at the same time intending to violate one of its
provisions. In a discussion, in June, 1854, over a petition praying for
the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act, Senator Butler of South Carolina
put the question directly to Senator Sumner whether he would himself
unite with others in returning a fugitive to his master. Sumner's quick
reply was, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?" Enraged
Southerners followed this remark with a most bitter onslaught upon
Sumner which lasted for two days. When Sumner again got the floor, he
said in reference to Senator Butler's remark: "In fitful phrase, which
seemed to come from unconscious excitement, so common with the Senator,
he shot forth various cries about 'dogs,' and, among other things, asked
if there was any 'dog' in the Constitution? The Senator did not seem
to bear in mind, through the heady currents of that moment that, by the
false interpretation he fastens upon the Constitution, he has helped
to nurture there a whole kennel of Carolina bloodhounds, trained, with
savage jaw and insatiable in scent, for the hunt of flying bondmen. No,
sir, I do not believe that there is any 'kennel of bloodhounds,' or even
any 'dog' in the Constitution." Thereafter offensive personal references
between the Senators from Massachusetts and South Carolina became
habitual. These personalities were a source of regret to many of
Sumner's best friends, but they fill a small place, after all, in his
great work. Nor were they the chief source of rancor on the part of
his enemies, for Southern orators were accustomed to personalities in
debate. Sumner was feared and hated principally because his presence in
Congress endangered the institution of slavery.
Sumner's speech on the crime against Kansas was perhaps the most
remarkable effort of his career. It had been known for many weeks that
Sumner was preparing to speak upon the burning question, and his friends
had already expressed anxiety for his personal safety. For the larger
part of two days, May 19 and 20, 1856, he held the reluctant attention
of the Senate. For the delivery of this speech he chose a time which was
most opportune. The crime against Kansas had, in a sense, culminated in
March of the previous year, but the settlers had refused to submit to
the Government set up by hostile invaders. They had armed themselves for
the defense of their rights, had elected a Governor and a Legislature
by voluntary association, had called a convention, and had adopted a
constitution preparatory to admission to the Union. That constitution
was now before the Senate for approval. President Pierce, Stephen
A. Douglas, and all the Southern leaders had decided to treat as
treasonable acts the efforts of Kansas settlers to secure an orderly
government. Their plans for the arrest of the leaders were well advanced
and the arrests were actually made on the day after Sumner had concluded
his speech.
A paragraph in the address is prophetic of what occurred within a week.
Douglas had introduced a bill recognizing the Legislature chosen by the
Missourians as the legal Government and providing for the formation of a
constitution under its initiative at some future date. After describing
this proposed action as a continuation of the crime against Kansas,
Sumner declared: "Sir, you cannot expect that the people of Kansas
will submit to the usurpation which this bill sets up and bids them
bow before, as the Austrian tyrant set up the ducal hat in the Swiss
market-place. If you madly persevere, Kansas will not be without her
William Tell, who will refuse at all hazards to recognize the tyrannical
edict; and this will be the beginning of civil war."
To keep historical sequence clear at this point, all thought of John
Brown should be eliminated, for he was then unknown to the public. It
must be remembered that Governor Robinson and the free-state settlers
were, as Sumner probably knew, prepared to resist the general Government
as soon as there should be a clear case of outrage for which the
Administration at Washington could be held directly responsible. Such
a case occurred when the United States marshal placed federal troops in
the hands of Sheriff Jones to assist in looting the town of Lawrence.
Governor Robinson no longer had any scruples in advising forcible
resistance to all who used force to impose upon Kansas a Government
which the people had rejected.
In the course of his address Sumner compared Senators Butler and
Douglas to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, saying: "The Senator from
South Carolina has read many books of chivalry, and believes himself a
chivalrous knight, with sentiments of honor and courage. 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. Let her be
impeached in character, or any proposition be 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 the Senator."
When Sumner concluded, the gathering storm broke forth. Cass of
Michigan, after saying that he had listened to the address with equal
surprise and regret, characterized it as "the most unAmerican and
unpatriotic that ever grated on the ears of the members of that high
body." Douglas and Mason were personal and abusive. Douglas, recalling
Sumner's answer to Senator Butler's question whether he would assist in
returning a slave, renewed the charge made two years earlier that Sumner
had violated his oath of office. This attack called forth from Sumner
another attempt to defend the one weak point in his speech of 1852, for
he was always irritated by reference to this subject, and at the same
time he enjoyed a fine facility in the use of language which irritated
others.
One utterance in Douglas's reply to Sumner is of special significance in
view of what occurred two days later: "Is it his object to provoke
some of us to kick him as we would a dog in the street, that he may get
sympathy upon the just chastisement?" Two days later Sumner was sitting
alone at his desk in the Senate chamber after adjournment when Preston
Brooks, a nephew of Senator Butler and a member of the lower House,
entered and accosted him with the statement that he had read Sumner's
speech twice and that it was a libel on South Carolina and upon a
kinsman of his. Thereupon Brooks followed his words by striking Sumner
on the head with a cane. Though the Senator was dazed and blinded by
the unexpected attack, his assailant rained blow after blow until he
had broken the cane and Sumner lay prostrate and bleeding at his feet.
Brooks's remarks in the House of Representatives almost a month after
the event leave no doubt of his determination to commit murder had he
failed to overcome his antagonist with a cane. He had also taken the
precaution to have two of his friends ready to prevent any interference
before the punishment was completed. Toombs of Georgia witnessed a
part of the assault and expressed approval of the act, and everywhere
throughout the South, in the public press, in legislative halls, in
public meetings, Brooks was hailed as a hero. The resolution for his
expulsion introduced in the House received the support of only one
vote from south of Mason and Dixon's Line. A large majority favored the
resolution, but not the required two-thirds majority. Brooks, however,
thought best to resign but was triumphantly returned to his seat with
only six votes against him. Nothing was left undone to express Southern
gratitude, and he received gifts of canes innumerable as symbols of his
valor. Yet before his death, which occurred in the following January,
he confessed to his friend Orr that he was sick of being regarded as
the representative of bullies and disgusted at receiving testimonials of
their esteem.
With similar unanimity the North condemned and resented the assault that
had been made upon Sumner. From party considerations, if for no other
reasons, Democrats regretted the event. Republicans saw in the brutal
attack and in the manner of its reception in the South another evidence
of the irrepressible conflict between slavery and freedom. They were
ready to take up the issue so forcibly presented by their fallen
leader. A part of the regular order of exercises at public meetings of
Republicans was to express sympathy with their wounded champion and with
the Kansas people of the pillaged town of Lawrence, and to adopt
ways and means to bring to an end the Administration which they held
responsible for these outrages. Sumner, though silenced, was eloquent
in a new and more effective way. A half million copies of "The
Crime against Kansas" were printed and circulated. On the issue thus
presented, Northern Democrats became convinced that their defeat at the
pending election was certain, and their leaders instituted the change in
their program which has been described in a previous chapter. They had
made an end of the war in Kansas and drew from their candidate for the
Presidency the assurance that just treatment should at last be meted out
to harassed Kansas.
Though Sumner's injuries were at first regarded as slight, they
eventually proved to be extremely serious. After two attempts to resume
his place in the Senate, he found that he was unable to remain; yet when
his term expired, he was almost unanimously reelected. Much of his time
for three and a half years he spent in Europe. In December, 1859, he
seemed sufficiently recovered to resume senatorial duties, but it was
not until the following June that he again addressed the Senate. On
that occasion he delivered his last great philippic against slavery.
The subject under discussion was still the admission of Kansas as a
free State, and, as he remarked in his opening sentences, he resumed the
discussion precisely where he had left off more than four years before.
Sumner had assumed the task of uttering a final word against slavery as
barbarism and a barrier to civilization. He spoke under the impelling
power of a conviction in his God-given mission to utilize a great
occasion to the full and for a noble end. For this work his whole life
had been a preparation. Accustomed from early youth to spend ten hours
a day with books on law, history, and classic literature, he knew as no
other man then knew what aid the past could offer to the struggle for
freedom. The bludgeon of the would-be assassin had not impaired his
memory, and four years of enforced leisure enabled him to fulfill his
highest ideals of perfect oratorical form. Personalities he eliminated
from this final address, and blemishes he pruned away. In his earlier
speeches he had been limited by the demands of the particular question
under discussion, but in "The Barbarism of Slavery" he was free to deal
with the general subject, and he utilized incidents in American slavery
to demonstrate the general upward trend of history. The orator was
sustained by the full consciousness that his utterances were in harmony
with the grand sweep of historic truth as well as with the spirit of the
present age.
Sumner was not a party man and was at no time in complete harmony with
his coworkers. It was always a question whether his speeches had a
favorable effect upon the immediate action of Congress; there can,
however, be no doubt of the fact that the larger public was edified and
influenced. Copies of "The Crime against Kansas" and "The Barbarism of
Slavery" were printed and circulated by the million and were eagerly
read from beginning to end. They gave final form to the thoughts and
utterances of many political leaders both in America and in Europe.
More than any other man it was Charles Sumner who, with a wealth
of historical learning and great skill in forensic art, put the
irrepressible conflict between slavery and freedom in its proper setting
in human history.