Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
In achieving this result, an incidental good will be
accomplished, which of itself should impel us to any exertion.
The Slave Oligarchy has staked its power in the National
Government upon the support of this usurpation. In the madness
of its despotism, it has selected a position the least tenable
of all its assumptions. To dislodge it from this position, and
at the same time from its disgusting supremacy in the National
Government, will be one and the same work. And all this will be
easy to do, if the good people of the populous North, forgetting
past differences, will but rally together. _Union to save Kansas,
and Union to save ourselves_, should be the watchword.
Believe me, dear Sir, very faithfully yours,
CHARLES SUMNER.
E. D. MORGAN, Esq., Chairman, &c.
THE CRIME AGAINST KANSAS:
THE APOLOGIES FOR THE CRIME; THE TRUE REMEDY.
SPEECH IN THE SENATE, MAY 19 AND 20, 1856.
Such busy multitudes I fain would see
Stand upon Free Soil with a people free.
GOETHE, _Faust_, Part II. Act V.
Nihil autem gloriosius libertate præter virtutem, si tamen
libertas recte a virtute sejungitur.--JOHN OF SALISBURY,
_Polycraticus_, Lib. VII. cap. 25.
On the 17th of March, 1856, Mr. Douglas introduced “A Bill
to authorize the People of the Territory of Kansas to form
a Constitution and State Government, preparatory to their
Admission into the Union, when they have the requisite
Population.” Subsequently, Mr. Seward moved, by way of
substitute, another bill, providing for immediate action, and
entitled “A Bill for the Admission of the State of Kansas into
the Union.” Debate ensued, and was continued by adjournment
from time to time. In the course of this debate, on the 19th
and 20th of May, Mr. Sumner made the following speech.
* * * * *
This speech found unexpected audience from an incident which
followed its delivery. It became a campaign document in the
Presidential election then at hand, and was circulated by the
hundred thousand. Besides reprint in newspapers, there were
large pamphlet editions in Washington, New York, Boston, and
San Francisco. Editions appeared in German and Welsh. It was
reprinted in London, in a publication by Nassau W. Senior, the
eminent publicist and economist, entitled “American Slavery: A
Reprint of an Article on ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ in the ‘Edinburgh
Review,’ and of Mr. Sumner’s Speech of the 19th and 20th of
May, 1856.”
At the period of its delivery an intense excitement prevailed
throughout the country. At the North there was a deep sense of
wrong, with indignation at the pretensions of the Slave Power,
yearning for a voice in Congress that should speak out the
general sentiment. These influences reached Mr. Sumner before
he spoke, in numerous letters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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