1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. 3 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:18,119 Speaker 2: and I'm Holly Frye. This is part two of three 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 2: on Charles Sumner. I think the earlier one important to 6 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 2: listen to before this one. Where we left off, Charles 7 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 2: Sumner had just made a very controversial anti war speech 8 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 2: at an Independence Day event in Boston. He also had 9 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 2: not gotten a position as a professor at Harvard Law, 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:42,159 Speaker 2: which a lot of people had been expecting him to get. 11 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,480 Speaker 2: He was moving a lot more into just doing things 12 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 2: that were related to abolition and racial justice. And the 13 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:53,279 Speaker 2: next major milestone in his life and career was arguing 14 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 2: a school integration case before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. 15 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 2: We said in Part one one that Charles Sumner was 16 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 2: an abolitionist. He was also opposed to racial segregation, and 17 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 2: this was not just an abstract idea to him. It 18 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 2: was something that affected how he lived his life and 19 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:16,199 Speaker 2: conducted himself. For example, in eighteen forty five, the same 20 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 2: year as that controversial Independence Day speech, he was invited 21 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:24,080 Speaker 2: to speak at the new Bedford Lyceum. He turned down 22 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:28,280 Speaker 2: that invitation. Because the lyceum was racially segregated, saying, quote, 23 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 2: in the sight of God and of all just institutions, 24 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 2: the white man can claim no precedence or exclusive privilege 25 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 2: from his color. In eighteen forty nine, attorney Robert Morris 26 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 2: Junior approached Sumner for help with a case. Morris was 27 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 2: the first black lawyer to be admitted to the Massachusetts 28 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 2: Bar and his clients were Benjamin Roberts and his daughter Sarah. 29 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 2: They were black, and Sarah had to walk past five 30 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 2: schools for white children before she got to one that 31 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 2: she was allowed to attend, So they wanted Sarah to 32 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 2: be able to attend one of the other public schools 33 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 2: that was closer to their home. Roberts versus City of 34 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,399 Speaker 2: Boston was a case whose outcome would apply to other 35 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,600 Speaker 2: black children in Boston as well. 36 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: The first schools for black children in Boston had been 37 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: established after the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts, which followed 38 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: court decisions in the seventeen eighties. Those first schools had 39 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: been established at the request of black parents whose children 40 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: had been facing harassment and bigotry in Boston's public schools. 41 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: They had been privately established, but were later recognized by 42 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: the Boston School Committee. 43 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,919 Speaker 2: By the eighteen forties, there were only two public schools 44 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 2: for black children in Boston, and they were struggling. They 45 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:50,080 Speaker 2: were facing a similar lack of resources that many other 46 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 2: segregated schools for black children did in other parts of 47 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,799 Speaker 2: the United States. Benjamin Roberts and other black parents had 48 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 2: tried repeatedly and without success, to get their children enrolled 49 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 2: into one of the public schools for white children. This 50 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 2: included a petitioning effort in eighteen forty six, after which 51 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 2: the Boston School Committee suggested that the petitioners take up 52 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:14,359 Speaker 2: the matter in court. 53 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: Morris framed the initial legal arguments for the case, but 54 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,960 Speaker 1: he wanted a more experienced white lawyer to present their 55 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: argument before the Massachusetts Supreme Court. We said in Part 56 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: one that Sumner didn't perform well in front of jurys, 57 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 1: but at this point he had more speaking experience, and 58 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: the things that annoyed jurors were not necessarily an issue 59 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: when he was speaking to other attorneys or to justices. 60 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,839 Speaker 1: Sumner's vocal abolitionism and support of equal rights made him 61 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: a logical choice to help with Morris's case. This is 62 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: the first legal case in United States history known to 63 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: be argued by an interracial legal team. The Massachusetts Supreme 64 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: Judicial Court heard the case on November one, eighteen four nine. 65 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: Morris and Sumner's legal argument rested on an eighteen forty 66 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: five Massachusetts law that specified that quote any child unlawfully 67 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: excluded from public school instruction in this Commonwealth shall recover damages. 68 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: Therefore in an action on the case to be brought 69 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: in the name of said child by his guardian or 70 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 1: next friend in any court of competent jurisdiction, to try 71 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:28,280 Speaker 1: the same against the city or town by which such 72 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 1: public school instruction is supported. The argument Sumner presented before 73 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: the court was informed by Morris's legal framing and by 74 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: petitions already made by black families as they tried to 75 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: get their children access to the white schools, and a 76 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,840 Speaker 1: big part of this was the idea of equality under 77 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 1: the law. In the words of Sumner's oral argument, quote, 78 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 1: according to the spirit of American institutions, and especially of 79 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: the Constitution of Massachusetts, all men, without distinction of color 80 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: or race, are equal before the law. This is one 81 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: of the first, if not the first, uses of the 82 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: idea of equality before the law, Regardless of race or 83 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: color in US court cases. 84 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 2: Some are went on to say, quote, the exclusion of 85 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 2: colored children from the public schools which are open to 86 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:23,360 Speaker 2: white children is a source of practical inconvenience to them 87 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 2: and their parents to which white persons are not exposed, 88 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 2: and is therefore a violation of equality. The separation of 89 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 2: children in the public schools of Boston on account of 90 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:37,159 Speaker 2: color or race is in the nature of caste and 91 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 2: is a violation of equality. The school Committee have no 92 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 2: power under the constitution and laws of Massachusetts to make 93 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 2: any discrimination on account of color or race among children 94 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,039 Speaker 2: in the public schools. He also rebutted the idea that 95 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,719 Speaker 2: equality could be maintained through the creation of separate schools 96 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:57,040 Speaker 2: for white and black children. 97 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: Quote. To this, there are several answers. First, the separate 98 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:03,919 Speaker 1: school for the colored children is not one of the 99 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 1: schools established by the law relating to public schools, and 100 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:12,799 Speaker 1: having no legal existence, cannot be a legal equivalent. Second, 101 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 1: it is not, in fact an equivalent. It is the 102 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: occasion of inconveniences to the colored children to which they 103 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:21,720 Speaker 1: would not be exposed if they had access to the 104 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:26,479 Speaker 1: nearest public schools. It inflicts upon them the stigma of caste. 105 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:29,160 Speaker 1: And although the matters taught in the two schools may 106 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:33,159 Speaker 1: be precisely the same, a school exclusively devoted to one 107 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: class must differ essentially in its spirit and character from 108 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: that public school known to the law, where all classes 109 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: meet together in equality. Admitting that it is an equivalent, still, 110 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:49,040 Speaker 1: the colored children cannot be compelled to take it. They 111 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: have an equal right with the white children to the 112 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:53,360 Speaker 1: general public schools. 113 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 2: He also noted that this system of segregated schools did 114 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 2: not harm only black children. Ldren quote. The separation of 115 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 2: the schools, so far from being for the benefit of 116 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,039 Speaker 2: both races, is an injury to both. It tends to 117 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 2: create a feeling of degradation in the blacks and of 118 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 2: prejudice and uncharitableness in the whites. 119 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 1: The Court, under Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw, found in favor 120 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: of the City of Boston. In the Court's opinion quote, 121 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: the committee, apparently, upon great deliberation, have come to the 122 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: conclusion that the good of both classes of schools will 123 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: be best promoted by maintaining the separate primary schools for 124 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:37,360 Speaker 1: colored and for white children. And we can perceive no 125 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: ground to doubt that this is the honest result of 126 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: their experience and judgment. The court went on to address 127 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: the argument that the schools encouraged prejudice and uncharitableness among 128 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: the white community. Quote it has urged that this maintenance 129 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:57,440 Speaker 1: of separate schools tends to deepen and perpetuate the odious 130 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 1: distinction of caste founded in a deep rooted prejudice in 131 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: public opinion. This prejudice, if it exists, is not created 132 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: by law, and probably cannot be changed by law. Whether 133 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:13,200 Speaker 1: this distinction and prejudice existing in the opinion and feelings 134 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 1: of the community would not be as effectually fostered by 135 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: compelling colored and white children to associate together in the 136 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 1: same schools may well be doubted. At all events, it 137 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 1: is a fair and proper question for the committee to 138 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: consider and decide upon, having in view the best interests 139 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: of both classes of children placed under their superintendence, and 140 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,400 Speaker 1: we cannot say that their decision upon it is not 141 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: founded on just grounds of reason and experience than in 142 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 1: the results of a discriminating and honest judgment. The increased 143 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 1: distance to which the plaintiff was obliged to go to 144 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: school from her father's house is not such in our 145 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: opinion as to render the regulation in question unreasonable, still 146 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: less illegal. The case and its outcome had ramifications far 147 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: beyond where Sarah Roberts was allowed to go to school. 148 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: It was cited as precedent in other court cases upholding 149 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:15,679 Speaker 1: school segregation in at least eleven states, and then it 150 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 1: was cited in the US Supreme Court decision in Plus 151 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: versus Ferguson, which upheld the idea of separate but equal 152 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:24,079 Speaker 1: segregation nationally. 153 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 2: If you've studied the US Supreme Court case Brown versus 154 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 2: Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, or if you've heard 155 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:35,239 Speaker 2: our episodes on that case, some of Morris's and Sumner's 156 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 2: arguments in Roberts versus City of Boston may have sounded familiar, 157 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 2: especially the arguments about segregation being inherently damaging to children, 158 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 2: particularly to black children. More than one hundred years after 159 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 2: the Massachusetts Court decision in Roberts versus City of Boston, 160 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:56,560 Speaker 2: Thurgood Marshall would cite Charles Sumner more than forty times 161 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 2: and his legal brief in Brown versus Board. 162 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: Hurtz family and the rest of the community were, of 163 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:06,040 Speaker 1: course devastated by this lass, but they did not give 164 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:09,679 Speaker 1: up their efforts in trying to desegregate Boston's public schools. 165 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts outlawed school segregation in eighteen fifty five, 166 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 1: becoming the first state to do so. 167 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 2: This court case overlapped with some shifts in Sumner's political 168 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 2: thoughts and career, which we will get to after a 169 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 2: sponsor break. In the mid nineteenth century, the two primary 170 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 2: political parties in the United States were the Democratic Party 171 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:45,840 Speaker 2: and the Whigs. This two party split had started to 172 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:50,079 Speaker 2: evolve in the eighteen thirties. President Andrew Jackson was a Democrat, 173 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 2: and the Whigs essentially grew out of opposition to Jackson. 174 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 2: The Whigs took their name from the Revolutionary War era, 175 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:01,840 Speaker 2: when the pro independence patriots were also known as Whigs. 176 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 2: The idea was that Jackson had seized too much power 177 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:09,560 Speaker 2: as president, making him too much like a king, and 178 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 2: the Whigs were opposed to that expansion of presidential power. 179 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: After Texas was annexed into the United States and admitted 180 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:21,679 Speaker 1: to the Union as a slave state in eighteen forty five, 181 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:26,160 Speaker 1: abolitionist Whigs formed a new faction within the party. The 182 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: Conscience Whigs then split off into their own party, the 183 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:32,680 Speaker 1: Free Soil party In eighteen forty eight, after the Whigs 184 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 1: selected enslaver Zachary Taylor as their candidate for president, Charles 185 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: Sumner joined the Free Soilers and he ran against incumbent 186 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:46,400 Speaker 1: Representative Robert Winthrop in eighteen forty eight. Sumner lost that election, 187 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:50,319 Speaker 1: and Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams, free Soil 188 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:54,680 Speaker 1: candidates for president and vice president, lost their elections as well. 189 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:59,680 Speaker 2: In eighteen fifty, Sumner campaigned for other Free Soil candidates 190 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:03,680 Speaker 2: Throount Massachusetts. In one speech at Fanuel Hall, he said 191 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:07,000 Speaker 2: voters needed to look for three qualities and the people 192 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:11,000 Speaker 2: they voted for. Quote. The first is backbone, the second 193 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:15,000 Speaker 2: is backbone, and the third is backbone. When I see 194 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,280 Speaker 2: a person talking loudly against slavery in private, but hesitating 195 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 2: in public and failing in the time of trial, I 196 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:26,200 Speaker 2: say he wants backbone. When I see a person who 197 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:30,200 Speaker 2: cooperated with anti slavery men and then deserted them, I 198 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:35,840 Speaker 2: say he wants backbone. Also in eighteen fifty, Massachusetts Senator 199 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 2: Daniel Webster was made Secretary of State. Representative Robert Winthrop 200 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:43,280 Speaker 2: was appointed to fill his vacant Senate seat until a 201 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:47,360 Speaker 2: successor could be elected. At this point, senators were not 202 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:49,240 Speaker 2: directly elected by the voters. 203 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 1: They were voted on by the Massachusetts Legislature. The Free 204 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: Soil Party wanted Sumner as their candidate, which involved a 205 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:00,040 Speaker 1: lot of backroom negotiating to try to form a co 206 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,720 Speaker 1: between the Free Soil Party and Democrats who were willing 207 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:08,000 Speaker 1: to support him. Sumner did not really want to do this. 208 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,719 Speaker 1: As we said in part one, he hated Washington d C. 209 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,040 Speaker 1: That was not the only reason, but he hated Washington 210 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:16,880 Speaker 1: d C. He wrote a letter to one of his 211 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:21,120 Speaker 1: brothers in which he straightforwardly said, I do not desire 212 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:24,840 Speaker 1: to be senator. For a while, it looked like he 213 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:28,720 Speaker 1: might not have to. For the first twenty five votes 214 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: in the Senate, he did not get a majority, and 215 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 1: neither did anybody else. Some of this was because there 216 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:37,880 Speaker 1: were Democrats who would need to vote with the Free 217 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:40,720 Speaker 1: Soilers and were opposed to all the wheeling and dealing 218 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: that was going on. 219 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,680 Speaker 2: Sumner finally got a majority of votes on the twenty 220 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 2: sixth attempt hearing he had been elected Senator. Sumner kind 221 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 2: of dodged everybody who wanted to talk to him or 222 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,440 Speaker 2: congratulate him, and he went to spend the night at 223 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 2: the home of his dear friends Henry Wadsworth and Fanny Longfellow. 224 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:03,440 Speaker 1: When it was time for Sumner to leave for Washington, 225 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:06,240 Speaker 1: d C. In the spring of eighteen fifty one, he 226 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:09,840 Speaker 1: was bereft. He wrote a letter to another dear friend 227 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:13,080 Speaker 1: whose complicated relationship with Sumner we talked about more in 228 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:18,160 Speaker 1: Part one. That was Samuel Gridley Howe. Sumner described himself 229 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:22,360 Speaker 1: as weeping three times when he said goodbye to Longfellow, 230 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:25,280 Speaker 1: when he said goodbye to how and when he said 231 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:29,080 Speaker 1: goodbye to his mother and sister. Quote, I now move 232 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 1: away from those who have been more than brothers to me. 233 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: My soul is wrung and my eyes are bleared with tears. 234 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 2: He did not like Washington, d C. Any better than 235 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 2: the first time that he had visited years before. Although 236 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:47,560 Speaker 2: the economy of the Northern States was deeply interconnected with 237 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,760 Speaker 2: the institution of slavery, this was the first time he 238 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:54,960 Speaker 2: had lived in a place where slavery was actively being practiced. 239 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 2: About a quarter of the population of Washington, d C. 240 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 2: Was black, and about four forty percent of DC's black 241 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:03,520 Speaker 2: population was enslaved. 242 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: Abolitionists were elated to have someone who had been consistently 243 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: vocally against slavery in the Senate and expected Sumner to 244 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 1: start making waves. At the time, the Senate was dominated 245 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: by people who approved of slavery and wanted to maintain 246 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: or expand it, or who didn't really see abolition as 247 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: a priority, or who were opposed to slavery but didn't 248 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: want to make any waves. A small number of senators 249 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 1: from slave states also seemed to have an outsized amount 250 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: of power in the Senate. He called this slave power, 251 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:38,040 Speaker 1: which was correct. 252 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,640 Speaker 2: Being an abolitionist really set Sumner apart in this legislative body, 253 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:45,600 Speaker 2: and so did being a bachelor. He was one of 254 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 2: only two bachelors in the Senate, and that was something 255 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 2: that people noticed and commented on. Being an unmarried man 256 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,960 Speaker 2: at his age was seen as really suspicious. Like we 257 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 2: said in Part one, men were expected to get married 258 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 2: to women and to have families. Sumner's opponents used his 259 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:06,880 Speaker 2: bachelorhood as fuel to disparage him. 260 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: Sumner made various speeches in his first year or so 261 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,720 Speaker 1: in office, but none of them were really about slavery. 262 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 1: Abolitionists who had supported his candidacy and celebrated his election 263 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 1: started to become frustrated and angry that he wasn't doing 264 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 1: what they expected him to do. It didn't help that 265 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,600 Speaker 1: he had to carry out some of his work more discreetly, 266 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 1: like he arranged a pardon for Daniel Drayton and Edward Sayers, 267 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:35,400 Speaker 1: who had been imprisoned for trying to smuggle more than 268 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:39,000 Speaker 1: seventy people who had liberated themselves from slavery out of 269 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: the country on a schooner. Sumner also delivered the news 270 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: of their pardon to the prison where they were being 271 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,080 Speaker 1: held so they could be released and get to safety 272 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: before slavery supporters heard about their release and came to 273 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:55,640 Speaker 1: try to harm them. So he wasn't doing nothing at first. 274 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:57,840 Speaker 1: He was just kind of doing things that people didn't 275 00:16:57,880 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: know about. 276 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 2: It was customary for freshman senators to be allowed to 277 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 2: make one longer speech on a subject of their choosing. 278 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 2: Sumner started planning to make a major anti slavery speech 279 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 2: that would rebuke the whole institution and also frame it 280 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:20,320 Speaker 2: as incompatible with the United States Constitution. Maybe because he 281 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,520 Speaker 2: knew that people were frustrated with his perceived in action, 282 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,040 Speaker 2: so he wanted them to know what he was working on. 283 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 2: Maybe because he wasn't just very savvy in this moment. 284 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,760 Speaker 2: He did not really keep quiet about what he was 285 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:36,439 Speaker 2: planning to do, and so when he was ready to 286 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:40,879 Speaker 2: speak in July of eighteen fifty two, pro slavery senators 287 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 2: blocked him from the floor, even though blocking a freshman 288 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:48,640 Speaker 2: senator's speech was considered to be a breach of Senate etiquette. 289 00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 2: So Sumner used the Senate rules to find a loophole 290 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,880 Speaker 2: that would allow him to speak, which was adding an 291 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:58,720 Speaker 2: amendment to an amendment regarding funding for the Fugitive Slave 292 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:02,399 Speaker 2: Act of eighteen fifty. This act had been passed as 293 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:04,919 Speaker 2: part of the Compromise of eighteen fifty, which was a 294 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:08,160 Speaker 2: set of five laws related to slavery and the balance 295 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:12,320 Speaker 2: of power between the slave and free states. This Fugitive 296 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 2: Slave Act strengthened the earlier Fugitive Slave Act of seventeen 297 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:19,879 Speaker 2: eighty three and required people who liberated themselves to be 298 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:24,320 Speaker 2: apprehended and returned to their enslavers, even if they reached 299 00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:29,040 Speaker 2: a free state or territory. Very little evidence was needed 300 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:31,840 Speaker 2: to claim that someone had been enslaved. This is something 301 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:34,119 Speaker 2: we have talked about many times on the show. Before 302 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:37,840 Speaker 2: the Fugitive Slave Act of eighteen fifty put all black 303 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,800 Speaker 2: people in free states and territories at risk, and Sumner 304 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 2: hated it. He called it a quote most cruel, unchristian, 305 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 2: devilish law. This attaching something to an amendment loophole, allowed 306 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:54,879 Speaker 2: Sumner to speak on the subject with no time limit 307 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:58,400 Speaker 2: and without other senators being able to block him from 308 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:01,359 Speaker 2: the floor. The speech that he delivered in August of 309 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 2: eighteen fifty two was called Freedom National Slavery Sectional, and 310 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:10,040 Speaker 2: in it he argued that the United States Constitution did 311 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:13,720 Speaker 2: not create a framework for slavery at the national or 312 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 2: federal level. That meant that, in Sumner's view, the Fugitive 313 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:22,600 Speaker 2: Slave Act was itself unlawful. He said, in part, quote, 314 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,919 Speaker 2: a popular belief at this moment makes slavery a national institution, 315 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 2: and of course renders its support a national duty. The 316 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:36,800 Speaker 2: extravagance of this error can hardly be surpassed. An institution 317 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:41,320 Speaker 2: which our fathers most carefully omitted to name in the Constitution, which, 318 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 2: according to the debates in the Convention, they refused to 319 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:48,560 Speaker 2: cover with any sanction, and which at the original organization 320 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 2: of the government was merely sectional, existing nowhere on the 321 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:57,639 Speaker 2: national territory is now, above all other things blazoned as national. 322 00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:03,359 Speaker 2: Its supporters plume themselve national. The old political parties, while 323 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 2: upholding it claimed to be national. A national whig is 324 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:11,080 Speaker 2: simply a slavery whig, and a national democrat is simply 325 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 2: a slavery democrat. In contradistinction to all who regard slavery 326 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:20,200 Speaker 2: as a sectional institution, within the exclusive control of the states, 327 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:24,720 Speaker 2: and with which the nation has nothing to do. But 328 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:29,320 Speaker 2: according to Sumner, this was wrong. Quote slavery, I now repeat, 329 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:33,600 Speaker 2: is not mentioned in the Constitution. The name slave does 330 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:38,440 Speaker 2: not pollute this Charter of our liberties. No positive language 331 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 2: gives to Congress any power to make a slave or 332 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:45,560 Speaker 2: to hunt a slave. To find even any seeming sanction 333 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:49,800 Speaker 2: for either, we must travel with doubtful footsteps beyond its 334 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 2: express letters into the region of interpretation. But here are 335 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:59,400 Speaker 2: rules which cannot be disobeyed with electric might for freedom. 336 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 2: They send up pervasive influence through every provision, clause, and 337 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 2: the word of the Constitution, Each and all make slavery 338 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:12,640 Speaker 2: impossible as a national institution. They efface from the Constitution 339 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 2: every fountain out of which it can be derived. He 340 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:20,679 Speaker 2: cited the Constitution's preamble quote, we the people of the 341 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:23,879 Speaker 2: United States, in order to form a more perfect union, 342 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 2: establish justice, insured domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, 343 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:33,160 Speaker 2: promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty 344 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 2: to ourselves and our posterity. Do ordain and establish this 345 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 2: Constitution for the United States of America. And Sumner argued 346 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 2: that a nation formed to do all of that could 347 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 2: not at the same time encode slavery in its founding documents. 348 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:52,359 Speaker 2: He also cited some of the founders, including quoting John 349 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:56,400 Speaker 2: Adams as saying, quote, consenting to slavery is a sacrilegious 350 00:21:56,440 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 2: breach of trust, and Alexander Hamilton, who discot describe those 351 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:04,159 Speaker 2: enslaved by the state as free by the laws of God. 352 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:09,840 Speaker 2: This was simultaneously an argument against slavery and in favor 353 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:14,400 Speaker 2: of a strong national government, and in Sumner's words, quote 354 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 2: there can be no state rights against human rights. Sumner 355 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,400 Speaker 2: meant for this speech to present a serious constitutional argument, 356 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:26,920 Speaker 2: written in language that would be accessible to people outside 357 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,439 Speaker 2: of the halls of Congress. It was mostly dismissed and 358 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:34,080 Speaker 2: decried by his fellow senators, but it was also printed 359 00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 2: and distributed across the country, where it was well received 360 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:42,560 Speaker 2: by opponents of slavery. Past podcast subject Lydia Maria Child 361 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:45,360 Speaker 2: said of it in a letter, quote, Charles Sumner has 362 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 2: made a magnificent speech in Congress against the Fugitive Slave Law. 363 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,760 Speaker 2: How thankful I was for it, God bless him. The 364 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:57,280 Speaker 2: Republican Party don't know how to appreciate his honesty and 365 00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 2: moral courage. They think he makes a misas in speaking 366 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,159 Speaker 2: the truth, and does it because he don't know any better. 367 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:09,239 Speaker 2: They do not perceive how immeasurably superior his straightforwardness is 368 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 2: to their crookedness. History will do him justice. In the 369 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 2: eighteen fifty two election, which took place a little more 370 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 2: than two months after Sumner made this speech, things went 371 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,679 Speaker 2: badly for the Free Soil Party. They lost most of 372 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,600 Speaker 2: the congressional seats they had gained in earlier elections. Some 373 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,240 Speaker 2: people blamed Sumner and his anti slavery speech for this, 374 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,879 Speaker 2: and they also blamed Sumner more personally, since, unlike what 375 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:39,280 Speaker 2: he had done in eighteen fifty, he didn't really go 376 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 2: out and campaign for his fellow party members. He and 377 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:46,200 Speaker 2: the two Free Soilers still in the Senate, who were 378 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,119 Speaker 2: Sam and pe Chase and John P. Hale were also 379 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:52,280 Speaker 2: kept off of committees in the next congressional session. 380 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:55,960 Speaker 1: If that letter from Lydia Maria Child made you ask 381 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:59,240 Speaker 1: Republican Party, I thought he was in the Free Soil Party. 382 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:01,199 Speaker 1: And we're going to get to all of that, but 383 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: first we're going to pause for a sponsor break. 384 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,080 Speaker 2: Before the break, we talked about the Compromise of eighteen fifty, 385 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:18,919 Speaker 2: which was part of a long series of attempts to 386 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,840 Speaker 2: maintain a balance between free states and slave states in 387 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:26,840 Speaker 2: the United States. The Compromise of eighteen fifty had followed 388 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,159 Speaker 2: the Mexican American War, after which the United States had 389 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:34,040 Speaker 2: gained a huge amount of territory from Mexico and California 390 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 2: had been admitted as a free state the same year 391 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 2: the war ended. An earlier compromise was the Missouri Compromise 392 00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:46,040 Speaker 2: of eighteen twenty, when states were being formed from land 393 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:49,200 Speaker 2: that had been acquired in the Louisiana Purchase of eighteen 394 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 2: oh three. Under the Missouri Compromise, Missouri was admitted to 395 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,960 Speaker 2: the Union as a slave state. The free state of 396 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:01,880 Speaker 2: Maine was split off from Massachusetts when slavery was outlawed 397 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 2: above the thirty six degree thirty archman at latitude line. 398 00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:09,880 Speaker 2: That boundary line presented a problem when the Territory's Committee, 399 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:13,640 Speaker 2: chaired by Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas, was trying to organize 400 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:18,040 Speaker 2: Nebraska Territory, which had also been part of the Louisiana purchase, 401 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:22,760 Speaker 2: into states. Nearly all of the Nebraska territory was north 402 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 2: of that latitude line, meaning that under the Missouri Compromise, 403 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 2: slavery should be illegal in any states created from it. 404 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:33,080 Speaker 2: But that would have tipped the balance of power in 405 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,560 Speaker 2: favor of the Free States. So in January of eighteen 406 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:41,160 Speaker 2: fifty four, Douglas introduced a Kansas Nebraska Bill which would 407 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:45,480 Speaker 2: repeal part of the Missouri Compromise. It would divide Nebraska 408 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:50,240 Speaker 2: into two territories, with popular sovereignty or voting used to 409 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 2: determine whether to allow slavery in each of them. Charles 410 00:25:54,760 --> 00:26:00,280 Speaker 2: Sumner was very unsurprisingly fiercely opposed to this act and 411 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,639 Speaker 2: its potential to allow slavery in a place where it 412 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:08,359 Speaker 2: had previously been outlawed. He and Ohio Senator Sam and P. 413 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:12,800 Speaker 2: Chase also understood that leaving this issue up to voters 414 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:16,720 Speaker 2: might sound kind of okay in theory, but it was 415 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:22,200 Speaker 2: likely to lead to threats, intimidation, and violence. They leaked 416 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:25,479 Speaker 2: the draft bill to the press with an appeal calling 417 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:29,960 Speaker 2: on people to protest against it. On February twenty first, 418 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,399 Speaker 2: eighteen fifty four, Sumner delivered a speech before the Senate 419 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:37,280 Speaker 2: called the Landmark of Freedom, and it recounted the history 420 00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:40,840 Speaker 2: of the Missouri Compromise and picked apart the various arguments 421 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:45,520 Speaker 2: in favor of the Kansas Nebraska Act. Although this speech 422 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 2: didn't really move his fellow senators, Sumner was loudly applauded 423 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:51,919 Speaker 2: by the gallery, and it got a lot of praise 424 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 2: when it was printed and distributed in Massachusetts. A couple 425 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:58,679 Speaker 2: of days later, on the twenty fourth and twenty fifth 426 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 2: of February, South caml Carolina Senator Andrew Pickens Butler, who 427 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:06,600 Speaker 2: had co authored the bill, made a rebuttal, and in 428 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 2: that rebuttal, he insulted Sumner personally. He also insulted the 429 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,840 Speaker 2: state of Massachusetts and other northern states. He sort of 430 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:18,800 Speaker 2: offered up out of context numbers to suggest that the 431 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:23,439 Speaker 2: northern states had higher rates of pauperism and insanity and 432 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:27,400 Speaker 2: also had fewer churches per person than the Southern states. 433 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 2: Sort of implying that that meant the Southern states were 434 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:35,320 Speaker 2: more moral. Butler also spun out an imaginary what if 435 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:39,679 Speaker 2: scenario about Sumner being offered the hand of a black princess, 436 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:44,960 Speaker 2: implying that Sumner was sexually attracted to black women. That, 437 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:47,879 Speaker 2: of course, was an effort to kind of discredit and 438 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,480 Speaker 2: humiliate him, but there was a level of irony and 439 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:55,359 Speaker 2: hypocrisy there, since rape and sexual assault perpetrated by white 440 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 2: men against the women they enslaved was incredibly widespread. 441 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:03,600 Speaker 1: Debates over the bill continued after this, and on May twelfth, 442 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:06,960 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty four, Louis Davis, a member of the Free 443 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 1: Soil Party from Ohio, filibustered it in the House, but 444 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: it ultimately passed both houses, and President Franklin Pierce signed 445 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 1: the Kansas Nebraska Act into law on May thirtieth, eighteen 446 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:19,520 Speaker 1: fifty four. 447 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:24,720 Speaker 2: As Sumner had predicted, This led to a massive, violent, 448 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:28,800 Speaker 2: and years long battle over slavery in Kansas, which was 449 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:33,680 Speaker 2: the more southern of the two newly created territories. Pro 450 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,919 Speaker 2: and anti slavery settlers rushed into the area, with both 451 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:42,800 Speaker 2: sides arming themselves, and enslaved people from neighboring Missouri also 452 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 2: liberated themselves and fled to Kansas as well. Clashes among 453 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 2: all of these people were ongoing, and this series of 454 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:54,400 Speaker 2: events and all the strife associated with it became known 455 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 2: as Bleeding Kansas. There was chaos in other places as 456 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 2: well during these years, including in Boston, where much of 457 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,440 Speaker 2: it was connected to the Fugitive Slave Act of eighteen 458 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:08,640 Speaker 2: fifty A multi racial vigilance committee had been formed to 459 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:12,680 Speaker 2: try to protect black Bostonians from slave catchers, and Sumner 460 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 2: was part of it. In eighteen fifty four, a slave 461 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:20,160 Speaker 2: catcher captured Anthony Burns, and a group of abolitionists rushed 462 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,800 Speaker 2: to the courthouse where his case was being heard to 463 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,880 Speaker 2: try to rescue him. When fighting broke out at the 464 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:30,800 Speaker 2: courthouse door, an irishman was accidentally shot and killed. Some 465 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:35,000 Speaker 2: people blamed Sumner and his rhetoric for having inflamed tensions 466 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:39,480 Speaker 2: over the issue, supposedly leading to the man's death. Yeah, 467 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:41,880 Speaker 2: a lot of people really like to blame Sumner for 468 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:46,200 Speaker 2: making things worse rather than the people who were enslaving 469 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 2: human beings. Yeah, that seems like a weird finger pointing 470 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 2: problem to me. There's a lot of it. There's a 471 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:55,760 Speaker 2: lot of it. New political parties also started to coalesce 472 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,840 Speaker 2: in the wake of all of this. The Republican Party, 473 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,320 Speaker 2: found it in eighteen five fifty four, included former members 474 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:06,200 Speaker 2: of the Free Soil Party, Northern Whigs and Democrats who 475 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 2: did not agree with that party's increasing focus on the 476 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:14,160 Speaker 2: expansion of slavery. Some other former Whigs started to join 477 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 2: the Know Nothings, which was an anti immigration party formed 478 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:21,960 Speaker 2: ten years earlier whose membership was really surging in response 479 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:25,479 Speaker 2: to the Irish immigrants who were fleeing to the United 480 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:29,640 Speaker 2: States trying to escape the Great Famine. Sumner, of course 481 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:33,560 Speaker 2: joined the Republicans. He also kept trying to convince people 482 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:37,960 Speaker 2: to support abolition beyond the halls of Congress. This included 483 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 2: going on a speaking tour with seven year old Mary Williams, 484 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:45,800 Speaker 2: her brother Oscar, and their family. Mary's father had escaped 485 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:48,400 Speaker 2: from slavery and purchased the freedom of the rest of 486 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:52,760 Speaker 2: the family with the help of Boston abolitionists. Mary had 487 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:56,080 Speaker 2: very fair skin. To a lot of people, she looked white, 488 00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 2: and Sumner used a dageatype of her to try to 489 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,920 Speaker 2: illustrate to white families that there were enslave children who 490 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 2: looked just like their own. There's some complexity here. Sumner 491 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:12,440 Speaker 2: was clearly trying to cultivate empathy toward enslaved children and 492 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,760 Speaker 2: their families, and to inspire white people who might not 493 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 2: otherwise feel a personal connection to slavery to act, but 494 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 2: there was an obvious power imbalance between a white senator 495 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 2: and a black family who was seeking refuge. We don't 496 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:31,320 Speaker 2: really know what the Williamses thought about all of this, 497 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,720 Speaker 2: but it doesn't seem like they really had the opportunity 498 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 2: to say no to essentially being used as an illustrative 499 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 2: prop Sumner did compensate them for their appearances, though, and 500 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:46,320 Speaker 2: he also helped raise money to purchase and emancipate other 501 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:47,320 Speaker 2: family members. 502 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:50,600 Speaker 1: It also comes with that weird loaded thing of like, no, 503 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:53,360 Speaker 1: but they look white, which is inherently problematic. 504 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:54,400 Speaker 2: Yeah. 505 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,440 Speaker 1: Then, on May nineteenth and twentieth of eighteen fifty six, 506 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 1: Sumner delivered a speech in the Senate called Crime against Kansas. 507 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 1: He had memorized it and had also prepared a printed 508 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:09,160 Speaker 1: version to be distributed to the public. This speech was 509 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:13,080 Speaker 1: one hundred and twelve pages long. It condemned the Kansas 510 00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:15,960 Speaker 1: Nebraska Act and its potential to expand the reach of 511 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:17,880 Speaker 1: slavery in the United States. 512 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:21,960 Speaker 2: Here's a quote. The wickedness which I now begin to 513 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:26,400 Speaker 2: expose is immeasurably aggravated by the motive which prompted it. 514 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:31,040 Speaker 2: Not in any common lust for power did this uncommon 515 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,600 Speaker 2: tragedy have its origin. It is the rape of a 516 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:39,320 Speaker 2: virgin territory, compelling it to the hateful embrace of slavery. 517 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,160 Speaker 2: And it may be clearly traced to a depraved longing 518 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 2: for a new slave state, the hideous offspring of such 519 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:49,959 Speaker 2: a crime in the hope of adding to the power 520 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 2: of slavery in the national government. Yes, sir, when the 521 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:58,200 Speaker 2: whole world, alike Christian and Turk, is rising up to 522 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,440 Speaker 2: condemn this wrong and to make it a hissing to 523 00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:06,240 Speaker 2: the nations. Here in our republic, force, I, sir, force 524 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:11,080 Speaker 2: has been openly employed in compelling Kansas to this pollution, 525 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,680 Speaker 2: and all for the sake of political power. There is 526 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:17,880 Speaker 2: the simple fact which you will vainly attempt to deny, 527 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,880 Speaker 2: but which in itself presents an essential wickedness that makes 528 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:25,480 Speaker 2: other public crimes seem like public virtues. 529 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:30,000 Speaker 1: In this speech, he also personally criticized senators who had 530 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,400 Speaker 1: helped to draft the bill, When Stephen Douglas tried to 531 00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:36,760 Speaker 1: raise a point, Sumner answered, quote, no person with the 532 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:39,760 Speaker 1: upright form of man can be allowed, without the violation 533 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,000 Speaker 1: of all decency, to switch out from his tongue the 534 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:47,480 Speaker 1: perpetual stench of offensive personality. Sir, this is not a 535 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:51,320 Speaker 1: proper weapon of debate, at least on this floor. The noisome, 536 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:54,680 Speaker 1: squat and nameless animal to which I now refer is 537 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,040 Speaker 1: not a proper model for an American senator. Will the 538 00:33:58,160 --> 00:33:59,920 Speaker 1: senator from Illinois take note. 539 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:05,440 Speaker 2: Sumner also criticized Andrew Pickens Butler, who was not present 540 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:08,239 Speaker 2: in the Senate that day because he had recently suffered 541 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:12,640 Speaker 2: a stroke. Sumner compared Butler to Don Quixote and made 542 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,560 Speaker 2: fun of him for spitting while he talked, which was 543 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:19,000 Speaker 2: an effect of the stroke he had just survived. Sumner 544 00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:23,040 Speaker 2: also compared Stephen Douglas to Lucifer, and he alluded to 545 00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:26,080 Speaker 2: the South as a place of hypocrisy because it presented 546 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:29,719 Speaker 2: itself as a region of chivalry and gentility and refinement 547 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:34,480 Speaker 2: while really subjecting enslaved women to rape and assault and 548 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:39,200 Speaker 2: breaking up people's families. Uh, we're stating the obvious, but 549 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:42,560 Speaker 2: this was not a diplomatic speech in places, it was 550 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:46,760 Speaker 2: straightforwardly rude. Most of the Senate thought that its content 551 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:51,280 Speaker 2: was a huge breach of decorum. Even Sumner's supporters questioned 552 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:53,440 Speaker 2: whether it had been a good idea and thought that 553 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:56,600 Speaker 2: he might face some kind of retaliation and perhaps even 554 00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:00,600 Speaker 2: violence because of the things he had said. They probably 555 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:03,480 Speaker 2: expected that kind of violence to take place out in 556 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:06,640 Speaker 2: the streets of Washington, DC, or maybe even in public 557 00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:09,680 Speaker 2: back home in Boston. But on May twenty second, eighteen 558 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:14,279 Speaker 2: fifty six, Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina, who was 559 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:17,840 Speaker 2: related to Senator Butler, came into the chamber after the 560 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:21,279 Speaker 2: Senate had adjourned, and he attacked Charles Sumner at his desk, 561 00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:24,960 Speaker 2: repeatedly hitting him with a cane as hard as he could. 562 00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:28,160 Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about all of that and 563 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:33,160 Speaker 1: more on our next episode, because again, this is a 564 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:34,879 Speaker 1: barely precedented three parter. 565 00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:38,799 Speaker 2: Yeah, and honestly it could have grown into four if 566 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:43,480 Speaker 2: I had had time for such things. The whole podcast 567 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:47,759 Speaker 2: is just about Charleston. Joe, do you have time for 568 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,920 Speaker 2: a listener mail? In the meantime, I do. I'm continuing 569 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:53,400 Speaker 2: to catch up on some older emails This one is 570 00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:57,120 Speaker 2: from October and is referencing an even older episode than that. 571 00:35:57,280 --> 00:35:59,879 Speaker 2: It is from Shawne, who wrote and said, dear Holly 572 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:02,600 Speaker 2: in Tray, I've always wanted to write and express my 573 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:05,879 Speaker 2: appreciation for the amazing work you do, but never really 574 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:09,200 Speaker 2: found a suitable excuse until now. I've listened to the 575 00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:13,560 Speaker 2: episode on nutmeg and wanted to share this ludicrous pancake 576 00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:18,760 Speaker 2: recipe from John Locke's diary with an unearthly amount of nutmeg. 577 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:21,560 Speaker 2: There is a link to the recipe. The recipe is 578 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:24,840 Speaker 2: at rarecooking dot com and it's just called John Locks 579 00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:28,080 Speaker 2: Recipe for Pancakes. My brother in law sent this to me. 580 00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:30,759 Speaker 2: We are both studying history and UNI and we are 581 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,800 Speaker 2: waiting till I stop breastfeeding to try it. Maybe silly, 582 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:36,799 Speaker 2: but I'm worried about what that amount of nutmeg may do. 583 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:40,319 Speaker 2: Thank you so much for all the hard work you do. 584 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:43,120 Speaker 2: This podcast got me through hours of lab work and 585 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:46,360 Speaker 2: my undergraduate studies for pet tax I have Garfield, my 586 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:48,719 Speaker 2: idiot of an orange cat, who to this day has 587 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:52,000 Speaker 2: not enjoyed one second of the communal brain cell, mainly 588 00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:56,160 Speaker 2: because muzz meaning banana, has complete sovereignty overall brain activity 589 00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:59,239 Speaker 2: in the house. They are the best of friends and 590 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:01,759 Speaker 2: are currently tear horized by our ten month old daughter. 591 00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:04,360 Speaker 2: All the best Shany. So we've got a cat in 592 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,799 Speaker 2: the microwave. A little alarming to look at, but I'm 593 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:10,360 Speaker 2: assuring everyone that this kitty cat would get out of 594 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:14,120 Speaker 2: the microwave before it was put into use. In addition 595 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:17,839 Speaker 2: to being in a microwave, the cat has a very 596 00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:22,360 Speaker 2: vacant expression. Picture number two, we have an orange tabby 597 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:27,200 Speaker 2: cat curled up with a great great cat, kind of 598 00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:31,160 Speaker 2: tabby cat with white belly and legs. They're curled up together. 599 00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:35,840 Speaker 2: They are clearly friends. I love these pictures. I also 600 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:41,359 Speaker 2: love this this recipe so again. The recipe is at 601 00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:45,080 Speaker 2: rearcooking dot com. The title of the blog post is 602 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:48,600 Speaker 2: just John Locke's recipe for pancakes, and it's got photos 603 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:52,040 Speaker 2: of the actual page of the library from the collection 604 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:57,920 Speaker 2: at the Bodleian Library, and there are various crossing outs 605 00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:01,960 Speaker 2: where it looks like somebody has sort of vised the 606 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:05,799 Speaker 2: recipe over time, and so like there. It starts out 607 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:08,719 Speaker 2: with four eggs and you need to leave out two 608 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:12,480 Speaker 2: of the whites, but that has been amended to seven eggs, 609 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:17,239 Speaker 2: leave out four of the whites. Half a graded nutmeg, 610 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:21,120 Speaker 2: if you remember our net, we're talking about a whole nutmeg, 611 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,400 Speaker 2: grading up half of it to put it into the 612 00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:28,120 Speaker 2: pancake recipe. That does feel like a lot of nutmeg. 613 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:32,640 Speaker 2: The recipe also has sort of you know that it's 614 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:35,680 Speaker 2: got that spelled out in terms of what was written 615 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:38,879 Speaker 2: in John Locke's diary. And then there's also a modernized 616 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:43,440 Speaker 2: updated version of it with today's weights and measures, including 617 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:47,879 Speaker 2: an entire half nutmeg graded into the batter that does 618 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:52,520 Speaker 2: seem like a very nutmegie pancake recipe. It also has 619 00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:54,080 Speaker 2: a whole cup of butter in there. 620 00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:58,040 Speaker 1: See I was gonna say before you said that if 621 00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:00,960 Speaker 1: there's enough butter, it will off set that nutmeg and 622 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,880 Speaker 1: it'll be just fine. Yeah. I think these sound great. 623 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:07,759 Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe I will make these one day. We'd like 624 00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:11,640 Speaker 2: pancakes sometimes at our house. So thank you again Shannie 625 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:14,080 Speaker 2: for sending us this email and the link and the 626 00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:17,359 Speaker 2: adorable cat pictures. If you would like to send us 627 00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:19,520 Speaker 2: a note about this or any other podcasts where you 628 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:23,719 Speaker 2: are a history podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and you 629 00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:27,120 Speaker 2: can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio app, and 630 00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:35,000 Speaker 2: anywhere else you'd like to get your podcasts. Stuff you 631 00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:38,120 Speaker 2: missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For 632 00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:42,680 Speaker 2: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 633 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:44,840 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.