Statesmen -- United States; United States -- Biography
When Lincoln was assassinated, Sumner wept by his bedside. "The only
time," said an intimate friend, "I ever saw him weep." When he
delivered his eloquent eulogy on Lincoln in Boston, he said, "That
speech, uttered on the field of Gettysburg, and now sanctified by the
martyrdom of its author, is a monumental act. In the modesty of his
nature, he said, 'The world will little note, nor long remember, what we
say here; but it can never forget what they did here.'
"He was mistaken. The world noted at once what he said, and will never
cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the
speech. Ideas are more than battles."
And so the great slavery pioneer and the great emancipator will go down
in history together. How the world worships heroic manhood! Those who,
with sweet and unselfish natures, seek not their own happiness, but are
ready to die if need be for the right and the truth!
Sumner aided in those three grand amendments to the Constitution, the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth. "Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall
have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any
place subject to their jurisdiction.... All persons born or naturalized
in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are
citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No
State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges
or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State
deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process
of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.... The right of citizens of the United States to
vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any
State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
In June, 1866, Mr. Sumner came home to say good-bye to his dying mother.
True to her noble womanhood, she urged that he should not be sent for,
lest the country could not spare him from his work. Beautiful
self-sacrifice of woman! Heaven can possess nothing more angelic. O
mother, wife, and loved one, know thine unlimited powers, and hold them
forever for the ennobling of men!
When Mrs. Sumner was buried, her son turned away sorrowfully, and
exclaimed, "I have now no home." He had a house in Washington, where he
had lived for many years, but it was only home to him where a
sweet-faced and sweet-voiced woman loved him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account