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 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 4 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:16,400 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. 5 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 2: This is the third part of our three parter about 6 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 2: Charles Sumner. I don't want to call this a cliffhanger, 7 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 2: because we're talking about a person's actual human life, but 8 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 2: we did leave off at a precarious moment. Charles Sumner 9 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 2: had delivered an incendiary speech before the Senate called Crime 10 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,599 Speaker 2: against Kansas. He had delivered that over two days in 11 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 2: May of eighteen fifty six, and so we are picking 12 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,159 Speaker 2: up with what happened two days later on May twenty second, 13 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 2: when Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina came into the 14 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 2: Senate chamber and attacked Charles Sumner at his desk. Representative 15 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 2: Brooks thought Senator Sumner deserved to be punished for what 16 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 2: he had said in his against Kansas speech. Brooks also 17 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 2: thought this should be humiliating for Sumner, and his initial 18 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 2: plan was to use a whip. But Sumner was a 19 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:12,639 Speaker 2: big man. He was six foot four with a barrel chest, 20 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 2: and he outweighed Brooks by about thirty pounds Brooks thought 21 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,319 Speaker 2: that Sumner might just take a whip out of his hand, 22 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:24,040 Speaker 2: so he decided to use a walking cane. When Brooks 23 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 2: arrived at the Senate chamber that day, Sumner was at 24 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 2: his desk. He was franking copies of the speech that 25 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 2: he had just given. Another South Carolina representative, Lawrence Kitt, 26 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 2: accompanied Brooks and was prepared to get in the way 27 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 2: of anybody who might intervene. Kit was a major part 28 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 2: of planning this attack and of encouraging Brooks to go 29 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 2: through with it when it seemed like he might change 30 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 2: his mind. Brooks and Kit waited for the session to 31 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 2: end and for some women who were in the hallway 32 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 2: to leave. Then Brooks approached Sumner. In a letter he 33 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,040 Speaker 2: later wrote to his brother, Brooks said he told the 34 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 2: senator quote, mister Sumner, I have read your speech with 35 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 2: care and as much impartiality as was possible, and I 36 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 2: feel it my duty to tell you that you have 37 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 2: libeled my state and slandered a relative who is aged 38 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 2: and absent, and I am come to punish you for it. 39 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 2: In this letter, Brooks went on to say, quote at 40 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,720 Speaker 2: the concluding words, I struck him with my cane and 41 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,359 Speaker 2: gave him about thirty first rate stripes with a Gutta 42 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 2: purchase cane, which had been given me a few months 43 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 2: before by a friend from North Carolina named Vic. Every 44 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,679 Speaker 2: lick went where I intended. For about the first five 45 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 2: or six licks. He offered to make a fight, but 46 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 2: I plied him so rapidly that he did not touch me. 47 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 2: Towards the last he bellowed like a calf. I wore 48 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,920 Speaker 2: my cane out completely, but saved the head, which is gold. 49 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 2: The fragments of the stick are begged for as sacred relics. 50 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 2: Every Southern man is delighted, and the abolitionists are like 51 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 2: a high of disturbed bees. 52 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 1: I have so much to say on our behind the scenes. 53 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 2: Uh. 54 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 1: Colonel Joseph H. Nicholson gave an eyewitness account to the 55 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: Senate in which he said, quote, I saw Colonel Brooks 56 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: lean on and over the desk of Senator Sumner and 57 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: seemingly say something to him, and instantly, and while Senator 58 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,959 Speaker 1: Sumner was in the act of rising, Colonel Brooks struck 59 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: him over the head with a dark colored walking cane, 60 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: which blow he repeated twice or three times, and with rapidity. 61 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: I think several blows had been inflicted before Senator Sumner 62 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: was fully in possession of his locomotion and extricated from 63 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 1: his desk, which was thrown over or broken from its 64 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: fastenings by the efforts of the Senator to extricate himself. 65 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: As soon as Senator Sumner was free from the desk, 66 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: he moved down the narrow passageway under the impetuous drive 67 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: of his adversary, with his hands uplifted as though to 68 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: ward off the blows which were rained on his head. 69 00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: With as much quickness as was possible for any man 70 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: to use a cane on another whom he was intent 71 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: on chastising. Nicholson described the cane as being broken into 72 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,840 Speaker 1: several pieces during this attack, and said Sumner finally collapsed 73 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: in a quote bleeding and apparently exhausted condition. 74 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 2: Sumner's injuries, which were serious, went beyond just the ones 75 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 2: that Brooks had inflicted on him. This desk that he 76 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,160 Speaker 2: was seated at was large, and it was heavy, and 77 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,479 Speaker 2: it was bolted to the floor, so when Brooks started 78 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 2: attacking him, Sumner was basically pinned in between the chair 79 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 2: and the underside of the desk. Trying to get away 80 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 2: involved wrenching the desk out from the floor, and both 81 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 2: of his thighs were severely bruised in the process. 82 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:47,800 Speaker 1: Violence in the halls of Congress was not unheard of 83 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: at this point. The previous year, there had been an 84 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 1: altercation between Senators Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri and Henry 85 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: Foot of Mississippi, in which Foot had pulled a gun. 86 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: Other fights over slavery had come to blows. In eighteen 87 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:04,960 Speaker 1: fifty eight, Kit would be involved in what was effectively 88 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: a brawl in the House over a proposed pro slavery 89 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: constitution for Kansas, but this was different. In addition to 90 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:17,920 Speaker 1: being a much more serious and violent attack, Brooks's decision 91 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: to attack Sumner with a cane had parallels to the 92 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 1: way in slavers delivered physical punishments with things like canes 93 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:26,240 Speaker 1: and whips. 94 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 2: People noticed the similarity between what Brooks did to Sumner 95 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 2: and what enslavers did to the enslaved. More broadly, this 96 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 2: included black journalists and abolitionists who condemned the attack. Mary 97 00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 2: Anne shad Carey, who we covered on the show in 98 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:46,840 Speaker 2: July of twenty sixteen, described this as an indication that 99 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 2: the violence of slavery had spread quote from the black 100 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:51,599 Speaker 2: man to the white. 101 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: Thanks to the existence of the telegraph, word of the 102 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:58,039 Speaker 1: attack spread quickly, with people in major cities hearing about 103 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: it less than an hour after it happened. Broadly speaking, 104 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:05,720 Speaker 1: Brooks's actions drew outrage from the North and praised from 105 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: the South, although there were Southerners who thought it went 106 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: against Southern ideas of gentility and gentlemanly behavior. 107 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 2: Brooks received a letter from five people from Charleston, South Carolina, 108 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:21,280 Speaker 2: who wrote, quote, you have put the senator from Massachusetts 109 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:24,039 Speaker 2: where he should be. You have applied a blow to 110 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:28,360 Speaker 2: his back. He has undergone the infamy of personal punishment. 111 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,279 Speaker 2: His submission to your blows has now qualified him for 112 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,920 Speaker 2: the closest companionship with a degraded class. 113 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:41,239 Speaker 1: An Alabama newspaper also celebrated the attack, saying, quote, Sumner 114 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:43,720 Speaker 1: has been needing something of the sort since the first 115 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: day he put his foot into the Senate chamber. The 116 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:51,279 Speaker 1: Richmond wig was exuberant, quote A glorious deed, A most 117 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:56,280 Speaker 1: glorious deed, mister Brooks of South Carolina administered to Senator Sumner, 118 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: a notorious abolitionist from Massachusetts, and effect usual and classic caning, 119 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:05,520 Speaker 1: we are rejoiced. The only regret we feel is that 120 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:08,720 Speaker 1: mister Brooks did not employ a slave whip instead of 121 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: a stick. From the northern point of view, Julia Ward 122 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: Howe wrote a poem praising Sumner called a Woman's Word 123 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: for the Hour, which was published in the New York Tribune. 124 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: It set in part quote, never on a milder brow 125 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: gleamed the crown of the martyr. The Reverend Henry Ward 126 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: Beecher drew a comparison between the North and the South 127 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: in response to the attack, quote the symbol of the 128 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 1: North is the pen. The symbol of the South is 129 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: the bludgeon. Sumner also got a lot of support from 130 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: Boston's black community. Attorney Robert Morris wrote to him and 131 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: said quote, no persons felt more keenly and sympathized with you, 132 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:52,240 Speaker 1: more deeply and sincerely than your colored constituents in Boston. 133 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: There was also a meeting of black abolitionists at Boston's 134 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: twelfth Baptist Church, who wrote in support of our senator, 135 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: saying quote that in this dastardly attempt to crush our 136 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: free speech, we painfully recognized the abiding prevalence of that 137 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:11,080 Speaker 1: spirit of injustice, which has for two centuries upon this 138 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: continent ground our progenitors and ourselves under the iron hoof 139 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: of slavery, that we hereby expressed to mister Sumner our 140 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,679 Speaker 1: entire confidence in him as a faithful friend of the slave. 141 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 2: Perhaps unsurprisingly, or at least, that was how I felt 142 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 2: about it. Living in the year twenty twenty five, Brooks 143 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:34,120 Speaker 2: and Kit faced minimal consequences. The Senate investigated, but found 144 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 2: that it did not have the standing to discipline representatives 145 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 2: from the House. The House voted on a measure to 146 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 2: expel Brooks and Kit from their number, and while a 147 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 2: majority did vote in favor of that measure, it did 148 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 2: not get the two thirds majority that was necessary to 149 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 2: actually expel them. There was also a recommendation to censure 150 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,920 Speaker 2: Henry A. Edmondson of Virginia for having prior knowledge of 151 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,439 Speaker 2: the attack, but he was not censured. The House did 152 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:06,960 Speaker 2: censure Kit, and both Kit and Brooks resigned in protest. 153 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 2: When special elections were held to fill their seats, they 154 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 2: were both re elected. 155 00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:17,160 Speaker 1: Brooks was also charged with misdemeanor assault he confessed, or, 156 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 1: to be more accurate, he bragged about it. He was 157 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 1: fined three hundred dollars, which his supporters raised money to pay. 158 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:27,840 Speaker 1: Brooks died the following year at the age of thirty 159 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 1: seven after coming down with what people initially thought was 160 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:34,439 Speaker 1: just a cold. Kit would later be killed in action 161 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:38,440 Speaker 1: during the Civil War. Kansas was eventually admitted to the 162 00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:43,520 Speaker 1: Union as a free state in eighteen sixty one. Sumner's 163 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:49,439 Speaker 1: injuries included multiple severe bruises, lacerations, and a concussion. He 164 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 1: initially appeared to be recovering pretty well, but then he 165 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: developed a high fever, and when some of his sutured 166 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:58,520 Speaker 1: wounds were examined, it became clear that he had developed 167 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:02,520 Speaker 1: an infection. As his body started to heal, some of 168 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:06,520 Speaker 1: his other symptoms persisted. A lot of his regular activities, 169 00:10:06,559 --> 00:10:09,720 Speaker 1: including reading and writing, made his head hurt. He just 170 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:12,960 Speaker 1: couldn't get comfortable. He couldn't keep his balance while he 171 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:16,600 Speaker 1: was walking. In today's terms, he also probably developed post 172 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:21,199 Speaker 1: traumatic stress disorder. Three months after being attacked, Sumner had 173 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:23,600 Speaker 1: worked his way up to being able to write ten 174 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: letters a day. He had to lie down and rest 175 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: between each one, and he had to travel on horseback 176 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 1: since he could not keep his balance when he walked. 177 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:37,160 Speaker 1: There is some speculation that the pro slavery doctor who 178 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 1: treated him, Cornelius Boyle, didn't do an adequate job. Boyle 179 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 1: definitely minimized the extent of Sumner's injuries. When talking to 180 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: investigators in the press, Southerners and slavery supporters accused Sumner 181 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:56,600 Speaker 1: of faking it. On January seventh, eighteen fifty seven, a 182 00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: little more than seven months after the attack, Lydia Marieta Child, 183 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:02,840 Speaker 1: wrote a letter to her husband about a visit she 184 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:06,559 Speaker 1: had from Sumner. Quote Charles Sumner called to see me 185 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:10,240 Speaker 1: and brought me his photograph. We talked together two hours, 186 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,200 Speaker 1: and I never received such an impression of holiness from 187 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:17,520 Speaker 1: mortal man. Not an ungentle word did he utter concerning 188 00:11:17,559 --> 00:11:20,439 Speaker 1: Brooks or any of the political enemies who have been 189 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:24,720 Speaker 1: slandering and insulting him for years. He only regretted the 190 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: existence of a vicious institution which inevitably barbarized those who 191 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:31,319 Speaker 1: grew up under its influence. 192 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:35,280 Speaker 2: While this letter makes it sound like Sumner might have 193 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:37,840 Speaker 2: been doing better than he had been the year before, 194 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:42,199 Speaker 2: he still did not feel fully well. Not long after 195 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:45,080 Speaker 2: this visit with her, he left for Europe, arriving in 196 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 2: Paris in March of eighteen fifty seven, he both traveled 197 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:53,320 Speaker 2: and rested, and he visited the UK, Switzerland, Germany, Holland 198 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:55,760 Speaker 2: and Belgium. He also spent a lot of time with 199 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:59,719 Speaker 2: Alexis de Tokville. He returned to the US in November 200 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 2: and briefly tried to get back to his work in 201 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,720 Speaker 2: the Senate, but he was still having issues. He described 202 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:09,040 Speaker 2: fatigue in what sounds a lot like brain fog, along 203 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:13,439 Speaker 2: with serious back spasms, other pain, and susceptibility to illnesses 204 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:16,719 Speaker 2: which he had not had before being attacked. He went 205 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:20,440 Speaker 2: back to France in the spring of eighteen fifty nine. 206 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,199 Speaker 2: This time he went to Paris and he sought medical 207 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:27,599 Speaker 2: treatment from physician Charles Edoar Brown Scard, who was from Mauritius. 208 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:31,719 Speaker 2: Brown Sicard was a groundbreaking as a physician, but he 209 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 2: also could advocate experimental treatments that did not really seem 210 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 2: to have a foundation in medical thought as it existed 211 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:43,600 Speaker 2: at the time. He diagnosed Sumner with a contracoup brain injury, 212 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:47,040 Speaker 2: which is an injury that develops on the opposite side 213 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:51,560 Speaker 2: from the point of the impact. His treatment involved burning 214 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:54,960 Speaker 2: the skin along Sumner's spine over the course of six 215 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 2: weeks This raised concern and alarm from Sumner's friends, like 216 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:02,440 Speaker 2: these were not mine or burns. Some of them seemed 217 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:06,880 Speaker 2: very serious, and during these treatments, Sumner started experiencing angina, 218 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:10,440 Speaker 2: which he dealt with for the rest of his life. 219 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:13,840 Speaker 2: Four years passed before Sumner was well enough to fully 220 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 2: be able to resume his work in the Senate. During 221 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 2: that time, he was reelected. The Massachusetts legislature saw his 222 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:24,319 Speaker 2: empty Senate chair as a visible reminder of what had 223 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:29,360 Speaker 2: happened to him and the brutality of slavery. This whole 224 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 2: attack on Sumner is seen as one of the things 225 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:34,440 Speaker 2: that led up to the US Civil War and kind 226 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:37,080 Speaker 2: of made it seem like tensions between the North and 227 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:40,800 Speaker 2: South could not be resolved. Civil War, of course, started 228 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:43,040 Speaker 2: after Sumner returned to the Senate, and we will get 229 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:55,679 Speaker 2: to that after a sponsor break. Charles Sumner returned to 230 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:58,440 Speaker 2: the US Senate full time in eighteen fifty nine, and 231 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 2: he continued to represent Massachusetts for well over a decade. 232 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 2: On June fourth of eighteen sixty, he delivered his first 233 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 2: major speech after his return to the Senate, called the 234 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 2: Barbarism of Slavery. This was another long speech. It was 235 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 2: about thirty thousand words, and it began quote, when I 236 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:20,040 Speaker 2: last entered into this debate, it became my duty to 237 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 2: expose the crime against Kansas, and to insist upon the 238 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,880 Speaker 2: immediate admission of that territory as a state of this 239 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 2: Union with a constitution forbidding slavery. Time has passed, but 240 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 2: the question remains. 241 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:37,160 Speaker 1: This speech made it obvious that Sumner would not back down, 242 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 1: even after being severely beaten. After his last speech, he 243 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:44,280 Speaker 1: went on to say, quote, the slave trade is bad, 244 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 1: but even this enormity is petty compared with that elaborate 245 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:51,600 Speaker 1: contrivance by which, in a Christian age, and within the 246 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:56,119 Speaker 1: limits of a republic, all forms of constitutional liberty were perverted, 247 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,280 Speaker 1: by which all the rights of human nature were violated, 248 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 1: and the whole ole country was held trembling on the 249 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: edge of civil war. While all this large exuberance of 250 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: wickedness destable in itself, becomes tenfold more detestable when its 251 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: origin is traced to the madness for slavery. He continued, quote, 252 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: Slavery must be resisted not only on political grounds, but 253 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: on all other grounds, whether social, economical, or moral. Ours 254 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:28,120 Speaker 1: is no holiday contest. 255 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 2: It is a solemn battle between right and wrong, between 256 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:35,680 Speaker 2: good and evil. Such a battle cannot be fought with 257 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 2: excuses or rosewater. There is austere work to be done, 258 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:45,160 Speaker 2: and freedom cannot consent to fling away any of her weapons. 259 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 2: While this was an anti slavery speech, it had some 260 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:53,080 Speaker 2: racist elements, like comparing in slavers to these so called 261 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:58,040 Speaker 2: uncivilized primitive peoples of the world, meaning various indigenous peoples. 262 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 2: He also compared in slavery to Brigham Young's practice of 263 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:04,760 Speaker 2: polygamy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. 264 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:09,040 Speaker 2: A number of pro slavery senators walked out of this speech, 265 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 2: and afterward Sumner got death threats, and people started to 266 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 2: worry about what would happen if Republican Abraham Lincoln became 267 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 2: president in the upcoming eighteen sixty election. There were a 268 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 2: lot of worries about Lincoln becoming president from multiple directions, 269 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:28,320 Speaker 2: and it seemed likely that Sumner would wind up with 270 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 2: a lot of power if Lincoln were president. People on 271 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:34,680 Speaker 2: both sides of the aisle thought that he might be 272 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,880 Speaker 2: just too radical to be entrusted with that power. But 273 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 2: this speech was widely praised by abolitionists. Frederick Douglas printed 274 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:47,160 Speaker 2: it in his paper, along with the statement quote, at last, 275 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 2: the right word has been spoken in the chamber of 276 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 2: the American Senate. Long and sadly have we waited for 277 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 2: an utterance like this, and were beginning to despair of 278 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,120 Speaker 2: getting anything of the sort from the present generation of 279 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:03,600 Speaker 2: Republicans state hetsmen. But Senator Sumner has exceeded our hopes 280 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:05,679 Speaker 2: and filled up the measure of all that we have 281 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:10,679 Speaker 2: long desired in the senatorial discussions of slavery. Of course, 282 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:14,959 Speaker 2: Abraham Lincoln was elected president, and soon after that southern 283 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 2: states started seceding from the Union. South Carolina was the 284 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 2: first to do so on December twenty fourth, eighteen sixty, 285 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 2: with its declaration of secession citing quote an increasing hostility 286 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:29,479 Speaker 2: on the part of the non slaveholding states to the 287 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:33,960 Speaker 2: institution of slavery. Other states followed, with many of them 288 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 2: issuing similar statements citing that they were leaving the Union 289 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:42,000 Speaker 2: over the issue of slavery. Initially, Sumner thought that if 290 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:46,200 Speaker 2: only the most extreme slaveholding states seceded, it might be 291 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,080 Speaker 2: best for the Union to just let them. He thought 292 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:51,920 Speaker 2: those states wouldn't be strong enough to form a functioning 293 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:56,359 Speaker 2: national government, and that they'd also be vulnerable to slave uprisings. 294 00:17:57,119 --> 00:18:00,480 Speaker 2: He envisioned something like the Haitian Revolution taking place in 295 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:04,440 Speaker 2: those states. Sumner's late father had been in Haiti during 296 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 2: the revolution, and Sumner saw it as evidence that black 297 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:13,920 Speaker 2: people could advocate for and govern themselves. Sumner's earlier advocacy 298 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,320 Speaker 2: had included anti war advocacy, and one of his earliest 299 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:20,160 Speaker 2: major speeches that we talked about in Part one had 300 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 2: been an anti war speech. But as states were seceding 301 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:27,280 Speaker 2: from the Union, he started to conceive of the oncoming 302 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:30,360 Speaker 2: Civil War as a just one and one that could 303 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,480 Speaker 2: put an end to slavery. And since the South saw 304 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:37,160 Speaker 2: enslaved people as property, he thought that under the rules 305 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:41,439 Speaker 2: of war that property could be confiscated and then freed. 306 00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:46,680 Speaker 2: President Lincoln made Sumner Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 307 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:50,440 Speaker 2: On May thirteenth, eighteen sixty one, shortly after the start 308 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:54,400 Speaker 2: of the Civil War, Queen Victoria issued a statement of neutrality, 309 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:57,479 Speaker 2: and the Confederacy started working to try to get British 310 00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 2: support for their cause. Britain had abolished slavery, the British 311 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:07,800 Speaker 2: economy was deeply interconnected with the Southern cotton industry. Sumner 312 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:09,959 Speaker 2: had to work to try to keep Britain from becoming 313 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:12,640 Speaker 2: involved in the war on the side of the Confederacy. 314 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 2: He also had to try to keep Secretary of State 315 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:21,399 Speaker 2: William H. Seward from antagonizing the UK and possibly getting 316 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:24,919 Speaker 2: into a war with the United States. At one point, 317 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:27,640 Speaker 2: this required him to do something he really didn't want 318 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:32,440 Speaker 2: to do. A US Army officer captured two Confederate diplomats 319 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,240 Speaker 2: from a British mail ship that was headed to London. 320 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 2: They were James Mason and John Slidell, who had both 321 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:41,879 Speaker 2: served with Sumner in the Senate. They had both been 322 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:46,560 Speaker 2: on the opposite side from Sumner. Northerners were delighted by 323 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:49,720 Speaker 2: the two men's capture, but the British thought this was 324 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,240 Speaker 2: a violation of international law, and they demanded that the 325 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:57,159 Speaker 2: men be released. Sumner had to convince Seward and the 326 00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:00,360 Speaker 2: President to release these two men, even though who would 327 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:03,440 Speaker 2: have rather them stay in custody, because if they did 328 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:06,080 Speaker 2: not do so, they would wind up at war with 329 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:10,399 Speaker 2: Britain and possibly also with France, because France had also 330 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:15,080 Speaker 2: condemned the men's capture. When the Civil War started, Lincoln's 331 00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:18,800 Speaker 2: goal was to preserve the Union. Charles Sumner played a 332 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 2: major role in convincing him to make it about putting 333 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:26,160 Speaker 2: an end to slavery. This should not be interpreted as friendly, 334 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:30,320 Speaker 2: mutually supportive work. The two men had very fierce arguments 335 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:34,119 Speaker 2: about it. Black men at this point had been advocating 336 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,399 Speaker 2: for themselves to be able to enlist in the US Army, 337 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 2: and during the war, Sumner took up that cause as well. 338 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 2: He also argued for emancipation to be part of the 339 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:47,720 Speaker 2: Republican Party platform, and he worked on getting the United 340 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 2: States to recognize the governments of Haiti and Liberia and 341 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,920 Speaker 2: to negotiate a treaty with the United Kingdom to try 342 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:58,679 Speaker 2: to stop the transatlantic slave trade. Some of the issues 343 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 2: Sumner became involved during these years had to do with 344 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:06,240 Speaker 2: the citizenship rights of black men. In eighteen fifty seven, 345 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:08,960 Speaker 2: the U. S. Supreme Court had issued its decision in 346 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:13,240 Speaker 2: dread Scott versus Sandford, including that people of African descent 347 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:16,840 Speaker 2: were not and were not intended to be US citizens. 348 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 2: That meant that they could not petition US courts and 349 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:24,880 Speaker 2: that they could not be issued US passports. Robert Morris 350 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:27,440 Speaker 2: came to Sumner on behalf of his son, who wanted 351 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,439 Speaker 2: to go attend a university in France, since he was 352 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,680 Speaker 2: excluded from most colleges in the US because of his race. 353 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 2: Sumner took this matter up with the Secretary of State, 354 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 2: who ultimately issued Morris's son a passport. Similarly, in February 355 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:47,160 Speaker 2: of eighteen sixty five, Sumner helped a black lawyer named 356 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:51,560 Speaker 2: John Rock get admitted to the Supreme Court bar. Rock 357 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,440 Speaker 2: had approached Sumner to ask for his help with this, 358 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,200 Speaker 2: and in addition to Sumner feeling like it was just 359 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:00,040 Speaker 2: the right thing to do, he thought that if the 360 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 2: Supreme Court admitted a black lawyer to its bar, that 361 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 2: would help undermine that earlier decision in dred Scott. 362 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,880 Speaker 1: During the Civil War, Sumner also developed a close relationship 363 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,560 Speaker 1: with First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. This really started after 364 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,520 Speaker 1: the death of Lincoln's son, eleven year old Willie, who 365 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:23,440 Speaker 1: died on February twentieth, eighteen sixty two. She became depressed 366 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 1: in a way that sounds very similar to what Sumner 367 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:30,480 Speaker 1: experienced after the marriages of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Samuel 368 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:34,679 Speaker 1: Gridley Howe. Sumner had also been through a whole series 369 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 1: of personal tragedies, including the death of his twin sister, 370 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: the loss of his brother Albert and Albert's whole family 371 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:44,400 Speaker 1: in a shipwreck, and the death of another brother, Horace, 372 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,520 Speaker 1: in another shipwreck. Sumner's brother George had been injured in 373 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,919 Speaker 1: an accident and was paralyzed, and he was slowly dying. 374 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:57,120 Speaker 1: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's wife, Fanny, had also died, and Sumner 375 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 1: had not only lost her as a friend, but was 376 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 1: also watching Longfellow, who dearly loved her, grieve for her. 377 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:08,520 Speaker 1: Sumner became Mary Todd Lincoln's closest male friend, as their 378 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:12,119 Speaker 1: losses seemed to bring them together. He also talked to 379 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,639 Speaker 1: her a lot about slavery, and she credited him with 380 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:17,760 Speaker 1: convincing her to be an abolitionist. 381 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:21,800 Speaker 2: In eighteen sixty two, Sumner started trying to build an 382 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,359 Speaker 2: argument in the Senate that the states that had seceded 383 00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:29,760 Speaker 2: from the Union no longer existed as states, but the 384 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 2: land those states had occupied was still US territory. Territories 385 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:40,240 Speaker 2: were controlled by Congress, which had extremely broad authority to 386 00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:44,280 Speaker 2: pass laws to govern them, so Sumner believed that the 387 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:49,119 Speaker 2: Constitution allowed for Congress to simply rewrite the constitutions of 388 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:53,200 Speaker 2: the seceded states so that those constitutions would outlast slavery. 389 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:55,800 Speaker 2: I feel like it is a really good argument. The Senate, 390 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 2: of course, did not go for this plan. 391 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:02,200 Speaker 1: However, more and more republic Licans started describing themselves as 392 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,560 Speaker 1: radicals and pushing for legislation that would free people. This 393 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: included the Second Confiscation Act, which freed and slave persons 394 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:12,959 Speaker 1: who were able to reach territory that was held by 395 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:17,879 Speaker 1: the US Army. Congress also abolished slavery in Washington, d c. 396 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:22,720 Speaker 1: And in US territories, with provisions to compensate in slavers 397 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:24,800 Speaker 1: for the loss of their alleged property. 398 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:28,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's another thing, yet another thing that we've talked 399 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 2: about on the show before, and we talked about the 400 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:37,200 Speaker 2: contraband camps and other episodes. After months of negotiations and discussions, 401 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:42,359 Speaker 2: Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September twenty second, 402 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:46,400 Speaker 2: eighteen sixty two. This was something that Sumner had been 403 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,560 Speaker 2: advocating for, and it gave the rebelling states one hundred 404 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,639 Speaker 2: days to either return to the Union or have their 405 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:56,200 Speaker 2: enslaved population freed. We have an episode on this document 406 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 2: that's from August of twenty sixteen. Of course, the rebelling 407 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 2: States did not return to the Union, and on January first, 408 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 2: eighteen sixty three, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which proclaimed 409 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 2: that all persons being held as slaves and the rebelling 410 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 2: states were now free. This was exactly the kind of 411 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:17,720 Speaker 2: emancipating people that Sumner had been arguing for, but he 412 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 2: also felt this did not go far enough. There were 413 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:22,720 Speaker 2: a lot of people who were still enslaved. 414 00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: The Civil War would go on for more than a 415 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:29,360 Speaker 1: year after this, but Sumner was already thinking about what 416 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:33,560 Speaker 1: would need to happen during reconstruction. He argued that by 417 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:36,600 Speaker 1: seceding from the Union, the Southern States had lost the 418 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,520 Speaker 1: protections that are given to the states under the Constitution, 419 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:42,199 Speaker 1: and that to return to the Union they would have 420 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:45,720 Speaker 1: to form a republican government that would give equal franchise 421 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:49,600 Speaker 1: to black men. He also started proposing bills that would 422 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:54,120 Speaker 1: redistribute land to freed people, understanding that freed people would 423 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:56,160 Speaker 1: need some way to support themselves. 424 00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 2: The United States won the Civil War, which ended in 425 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,600 Speaker 2: the spring of eighteen sixty five. We will talk about 426 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:17,159 Speaker 2: Sumner's work during reconstruction after another sponsor break after the 427 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,919 Speaker 2: Civil War, Charles Sumner was a huge advocate for a 428 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:26,280 Speaker 2: constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, among other things. He worked with 429 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:30,640 Speaker 2: the Women's National Loyal League, founded by Elizabeth Katie Stanton 430 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:34,439 Speaker 2: and Susan B. Anthony. He submitted the league's petition on 431 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:38,520 Speaker 2: the subject, nicknamed the Mammoth Petition to Congress. It had 432 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 2: about one hundred thousand signatures, two thirds of them women 433 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:43,480 Speaker 2: and one third of them men. 434 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,680 Speaker 1: This amendment would ultimately become the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. 435 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:53,080 Speaker 1: Sumner argued for it to include equality under the law 436 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:57,400 Speaker 1: and not to include involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime, 437 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: neither of which happened. While he supported the amendment, he 438 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:05,480 Speaker 1: wasn't a huge part of getting it drafted, passed, and ratified. 439 00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 1: As should be obvious by now, Sumner often just was 440 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:12,440 Speaker 1: not a very diplomatic person, and even people who agreed 441 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,600 Speaker 1: with him could find him relentless and almost zealous and 442 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:18,520 Speaker 1: hard to work with. And even though he worked with 443 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:21,880 Speaker 1: Stanton and Anthony on the Mammoth Petition, he was never 444 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 1: a public advocate for women's rights. 445 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 2: Sumner was made chair of the Senate Select Committee on 446 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:32,000 Speaker 2: Slavery and Freedom, and he introduced bills to repeal the 447 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:35,359 Speaker 2: Fugitive Slave Act of eighteen fifty, to give black people 448 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,760 Speaker 2: the right to testify in federal court, to hire black 449 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 2: postal workers, to desegregate street cars, and to get equal 450 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,080 Speaker 2: pay for black soldiers. He also introduced a bill to 451 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:50,840 Speaker 2: try to create an independent federal agency specifically to assist 452 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:54,600 Speaker 2: the freed people. This was a proposal that was controversial, 453 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:59,200 Speaker 2: including among some Republicans, because some legislators did not think 454 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,680 Speaker 2: white people should be excluded from getting that kind of aid. 455 00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:07,200 Speaker 2: While Sumner's bill on this did not pass, a different 456 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:10,160 Speaker 2: bill establishing the Freedman's Bureau did later on. 457 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: As all of this was happening, the federal government was 458 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,680 Speaker 1: trying to figure out how the states that had rebelled 459 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: could be readmitted to the Union. A proposal to readmit 460 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 1: Louisiana allowed it to have a constitution that did not 461 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:27,560 Speaker 1: give black men the right to vote. Sumner saw voting 462 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 1: rights as critically necessary to achieving racial equality, and he 463 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:34,400 Speaker 1: was afraid of the precedent it would set if Louisiana 464 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 1: were readmitted under these terms. He said he would quote 465 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: employ every parliamentary device which is allowable to stop Louisiana 466 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 1: from being admitted. And then he did, introducing all kinds 467 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 1: of amendments to the bill, filibustering, and just on and on. 468 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,280 Speaker 1: He did this knowing that he was running the risk 469 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:57,080 Speaker 1: of destroying his relationship to the president, since the readmission 470 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,960 Speaker 1: of States was part of Lincoln's reconstruction plane. 471 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:04,440 Speaker 2: Sumner and Lincoln were still on reasonably good terms though, 472 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 2: when Lincoln was inaugurated for a second term on March fourth, 473 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:11,720 Speaker 2: eighteen sixty five, and Sumner escorted the First Lady to 474 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:15,240 Speaker 2: the inaugural ball. But a little more than a month later, 475 00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:19,480 Speaker 2: Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Sumner rushed to 476 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 2: Lincoln's side when he heard that the president had been shot, 477 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 2: reportedly sitting by Lincoln's bedside for hours as he died, 478 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:29,120 Speaker 2: weeping and holding his hand. 479 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,479 Speaker 1: Sumner helped plan Lincoln's funeral, and he had meetings with 480 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:39,040 Speaker 1: his successor, Andrew Johnson to discuss reconstruction plans. Sumner was 481 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:42,320 Speaker 1: optimistic after these initial meetings because Johnson gave him the 482 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,840 Speaker 1: impression that he was in favor of black suffrage. But 483 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: of course this was not at all the case. When 484 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 1: Sumner saw Johnson's actual reconstruction proposals, which included things like 485 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:57,760 Speaker 1: a blanket amnesty for most Confederate soldiers, and the readmission 486 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: of states without black suffrage, he did described them as madness. 487 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:06,200 Speaker 2: In eighteen sixty six, Congress was working on what would 488 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 2: become the fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which finally incorporated 489 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:15,040 Speaker 2: the idea of equal protection under the law, something that 490 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:17,400 Speaker 2: Sumner had been talking about going all the way back 491 00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:21,480 Speaker 2: to Roberts versus the City of Boston. This amendment also 492 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:26,320 Speaker 2: included language about how representatives were apportioned among the states 493 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 2: based on their population. The Constitution originally counted three fifths 494 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:35,120 Speaker 2: of the number of enslaved people in each state, known 495 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:39,160 Speaker 2: of course, as the three fifths Compromise. The fourteenth Amendment 496 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:43,240 Speaker 2: instead counted the whole number of persons in each state 497 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:49,040 Speaker 2: quote excluding Indians not taxed. But if a state denied 498 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:52,240 Speaker 2: any male inhabitant under the age of twenty one the 499 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:55,959 Speaker 2: right to vote under the fourteenth Amendment, unless that person 500 00:30:56,160 --> 00:31:00,560 Speaker 2: had participated in a rebellion or other crime, that states 501 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:04,720 Speaker 2: representation would be reduced in proportion to the number of 502 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 2: men who were excluded. In other words, under the fourteenth Amendment, 503 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:13,240 Speaker 2: states could exclude black men from the vote if they 504 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,880 Speaker 2: were willing to also exclude their black population from that 505 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:18,160 Speaker 2: apportionment equation. 506 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:22,560 Speaker 1: Sumner was opposed to this language. He gave a speech 507 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,240 Speaker 1: on the subject called the Equal Rights of All on 508 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 1: February fifth and sixth, eighteen sixty six, in which he 509 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:32,200 Speaker 1: said the time had come in which quote, all compromise 510 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,840 Speaker 1: of human rights should cease. He also laid out an 511 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:39,160 Speaker 1: argument based on Article four, Section four of the Constitution, 512 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:43,600 Speaker 1: known as the Republican Guarantee Clause, which says, in part quote, 513 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:46,760 Speaker 1: the United States shall guarantee to every state in this 514 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:51,480 Speaker 1: Union a republican form of government. In Sumner's opinion, any 515 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:53,640 Speaker 1: state that did not give black men the right to 516 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:56,959 Speaker 1: vote did not have a republican form of government, so 517 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 1: the Constitution empowered the federal government to issue. As happened 518 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 1: with so many of Sumner's Senate speeches, he was applauded 519 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:07,960 Speaker 1: from the gallery, but he didn't get much of a 520 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 1: response from the other senators. 521 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:14,720 Speaker 2: Sumner's mother died in June of eighteen sixty six, and 522 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:17,440 Speaker 2: by September of that year, he was engaged to a 523 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:21,200 Speaker 2: young woman named Alice Hooper. She was twenty six and 524 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:26,080 Speaker 2: he was fifty five, and they got married on October seventeenth. 525 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:26,840 Speaker 1: They were not. 526 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:30,560 Speaker 2: Well matched at all. Among other things, she wanted an 527 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,200 Speaker 2: active social life and he wanted to stay at home. 528 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:37,240 Speaker 2: She started a very flirty friendship with a diplomat who 529 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:40,080 Speaker 2: was closer to her age and her temperament, and even 530 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:43,800 Speaker 2: though this seems to have been platonic, there were rumors 531 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:47,360 Speaker 2: that it was not. She and Sumner quickly separated and 532 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 2: eventually divorced, and she spread rumors that Sumner was impotent. 533 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 2: We already talked about Sumner being mocked and facing suspicion 534 00:32:56,680 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 2: for being a bachelor. Now he faced the same for 535 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:03,600 Speaker 2: his failed relationship and the rumors about both him and 536 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 2: his ex wife. 537 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:09,400 Speaker 1: Sumner continued to introduce ambitious bills and amendments in the Senate. 538 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:13,200 Speaker 1: He tried to expand the Homestead Act to explicitly apply 539 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,880 Speaker 1: to the land claims of freed people. The Homestead Act 540 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,160 Speaker 1: didn't technically mention race, but most of the people who 541 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:23,240 Speaker 1: were able to claim land through it were white. He 542 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 1: also tried to introduce an amendment to establish free, integrated 543 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 1: public schools across the country. These efforts failed. 544 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:36,479 Speaker 2: In eighteen sixty seven, the Reconstruction Act finally set the 545 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:40,880 Speaker 2: requirements for states to be readmitted into the Union. States 546 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:44,120 Speaker 2: had to draft new constitutions, which had to be approved 547 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,080 Speaker 2: by a majority of the voters, which included black men, 548 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:52,160 Speaker 2: and they had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. Johnson vetoed 549 00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 2: this bill, but Congress overrode his veto. 550 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: Also in eighteen sixty seven, Sumner helped ratify the treaty 551 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,560 Speaker 1: that had been secretly drafted for the United States to 552 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 1: purchase Alaska from the Russian Empire. Finding that there wasn't 553 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:10,640 Speaker 1: a lot of widely available information about the area, Sumner 554 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,040 Speaker 1: also drafted a whole treatise on it based on everything 555 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:18,080 Speaker 1: he could find at the Library of Congress. Sumner's writing 556 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:22,640 Speaker 1: about Alaska simultaneously acknowledged the harm that the indigenous population 557 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:26,320 Speaker 1: had faced while living under the Russian Empire, while also 558 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:29,000 Speaker 1: implying that the best course of action for the United 559 00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:33,040 Speaker 1: States would be to establish mission schools to civilize them. 560 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:38,040 Speaker 1: Somewhat similarly to how Sumner never really advocated for women's rights, 561 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:41,520 Speaker 1: his comments on the rights of indigenous peoples were largely 562 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:45,320 Speaker 1: limited to condemning specific massacres or acts of violence. 563 00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:51,239 Speaker 2: In eighteen sixty eight, President Johnson unilaterally fired Secretary of 564 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:55,200 Speaker 2: War Edwin Stanton, which violated the Tenure of Office Act 565 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:59,480 Speaker 2: of eighteen sixty seven. So Johnson was impeached, and Sumner 566 00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:03,440 Speaker 2: was strong in favor of that impeachment. Beyond just the 567 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:06,960 Speaker 2: violation of the Tenure of Office Act, Sumner thought the 568 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:10,080 Speaker 2: impeachment might pave the way for a president who was 569 00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:14,120 Speaker 2: actually committed to equal rights for black people. This was 570 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:18,440 Speaker 2: the first presidential impeachment in US history, and Johnson was acquitted. 571 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:22,759 Speaker 2: Just before the end of Johnson's term, Congress passed the 572 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:26,920 Speaker 2: fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing black men the right 573 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,239 Speaker 2: to vote. While this sounds like exactly the sort of 574 00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:33,520 Speaker 2: thing Sumner would have supported, he had stayed from voting 575 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:37,280 Speaker 2: on it. He didn't think the amendment was doing anything. 576 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:39,720 Speaker 1: More than an ordinary law would do, and it didn't 577 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:42,439 Speaker 1: prohibit tactics that could be used to keep black men 578 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:47,400 Speaker 1: from voting, like expensive poll taxes and unfair literacy tests. 579 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,360 Speaker 2: Okay, he had a lot of foresight on this issue. 580 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:55,280 Speaker 2: Ulysses S. Grant had been elected as the next president, 581 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:59,360 Speaker 2: and after his inauguration that March, he and Sumner frequently 582 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:03,400 Speaker 2: butted heavy. In the words of Secretary of State Hamilton 583 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:08,000 Speaker 2: Fish in eighteen seventy one, quote, no wild bull ever 584 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:11,800 Speaker 2: dashed more violently at a red flag than he goes 585 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:14,880 Speaker 2: at anything he thinks the president is interested in. 586 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: One big issue was Grant's proposed annexation of the Dominican Republic, 587 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,719 Speaker 1: then known as Santo Domingo, which Grant worked on secretly. 588 00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:28,200 Speaker 1: Getting into all the details of this would have turned 589 00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:31,440 Speaker 1: this into a four part podcast, but the short version 590 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,799 Speaker 1: is that Sumner was strongly opposed. In addition to the 591 00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:37,520 Speaker 1: fact that it had intentionally been kept secret from him 592 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:41,239 Speaker 1: even though he was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 593 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:46,160 Speaker 1: Sumner thought Dominican President Bueneventura Bayez was a corrupt dictator 594 00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: who was being enabled by the United States. He was 595 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:53,120 Speaker 1: also furious that the US had dispatched warships to Haiti 596 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:58,480 Speaker 1: to deter Haitian retaliation against the plan. This conflict ultimately 597 00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:01,480 Speaker 1: led Sumner to being removed as Chair of the Senate 598 00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:04,920 Speaker 1: Foreign Relations Committee. 599 00:37:03,719 --> 00:37:07,560 Speaker 2: In eighteen seventy Sumner started working with Black attorney John 600 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:11,800 Speaker 2: Mercer Langston to draft a civil rights bill, which included 601 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:16,560 Speaker 2: the right to access public accommodations, including theaters, regardless of 602 00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:20,120 Speaker 2: a person's race, as well as the integration of schools 603 00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:25,160 Speaker 2: and hospitals. Republicans had a majority in Congress, and Sumner 604 00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:28,040 Speaker 2: thought this bill would easily pass, But a lot of 605 00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:32,359 Speaker 2: these ideas and the intensity of Sumner's devotion to them 606 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:36,720 Speaker 2: were considered so radical that he started losing the support 607 00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:40,719 Speaker 2: of his party. He would reintroduce this civil rights bill 608 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:44,520 Speaker 2: every congressional session for the rest of his life. In 609 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:48,320 Speaker 2: eighteen seventy two, Congress started working on the Amnesty Act, 610 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:52,840 Speaker 2: which removed restrictions that prohibited most former Confederates from holding 611 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:57,040 Speaker 2: state or federal office. Sumner tried to append his civil 612 00:37:57,120 --> 00:38:00,680 Speaker 2: rights bill to it. This is a move that biographer 613 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:04,360 Speaker 2: Zacher Tomese describes in his twenty twenty five book Charles 614 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:08,480 Speaker 2: Sumner Conscience of a Nation as quote extraordinary in its 615 00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:12,560 Speaker 2: prescience and moral clarity. It forced Congress to have a 616 00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:15,240 Speaker 2: debate on the issue of civil rights for black people. 617 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,920 Speaker 2: Because the Amnesty Act was written to override a portion 618 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,160 Speaker 2: of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, it had to 619 00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:25,959 Speaker 2: have a two thirds majority to pass It didn't get 620 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:29,160 Speaker 2: that majority with Sumner's civil rights bill attached, but a 621 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:33,439 Speaker 2: standalone version of just the amnesty bill was passed later. 622 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:37,960 Speaker 2: By this point, Sumner was frequently ill. He had started 623 00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:40,399 Speaker 2: to wonder if it was time to retire. He made 624 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:43,880 Speaker 2: another trip to France for more treatment by Charles Edward 625 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:48,360 Speaker 2: Brown Scard. After returning to the Senate, Sumner proposed a 626 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:53,040 Speaker 2: constitutional amendment that would limit the presidency to a single term, 627 00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:55,920 Speaker 2: and one that would have elected the president through a 628 00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:59,800 Speaker 2: popular vote. If no candidate won a majority of votes 629 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:04,360 Speaker 2: in this popular vote, he proposed a runoff would be held. Obviously, 630 00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:07,400 Speaker 2: neither of those constitutional amendments passed. 631 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:11,759 Speaker 1: In December of eighteen seventy two, Sumner was censured after 632 00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:15,439 Speaker 1: he proposed a bill that would prohibit regimental flags from 633 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:19,920 Speaker 1: celebrating Union victories in the Civil War. His belief was 634 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:24,360 Speaker 1: that victories over fellow citizens should not be celebrated, even 635 00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:28,120 Speaker 1: in the context of a civil war, but people interpreted 636 00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:32,440 Speaker 1: the whole thing as anti veteran. After ongoing petitions for 637 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:36,239 Speaker 1: his censure to be rescinded, it finally was in January 638 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:37,520 Speaker 1: of eighteen seventy four. 639 00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:41,839 Speaker 2: A few months later, on March eleventh, eighteen seventy four, 640 00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:44,960 Speaker 2: Charles Sumner died at the age of sixty three after 641 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:49,720 Speaker 2: a heart attack. As he was dying, Sumner repeatedly talked 642 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:52,960 Speaker 2: about his civil rights bill, saying over and over that 643 00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:57,520 Speaker 2: it should not be allowed to fail. A congressional delegation 644 00:39:57,840 --> 00:40:00,840 Speaker 2: escorted his body to the Capitol, flanked by three hundred 645 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:05,279 Speaker 2: black men, including Frederick Douglas. After his body lay in 646 00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:08,719 Speaker 2: state in the Rotunda, it was transported to Boston by rail, 647 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:12,000 Speaker 2: where he lay in state in the State House. His 648 00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:15,360 Speaker 2: funeral was held at King's Chapel, and afterward tens of 649 00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:19,600 Speaker 2: thousands of people, including thousands of black Massachusetts residents, and 650 00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:22,760 Speaker 2: a uniformed black honor guard, were part of the five 651 00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:26,160 Speaker 2: mile procession to Mount Auburn Cemetery, where he was buried. 652 00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:30,360 Speaker 2: There were flowers everywhere at his services, including a shield 653 00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:34,520 Speaker 2: made of white carnations and blue violets, the violets spelling 654 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:37,720 Speaker 2: out the words do not let the Civil Rights Bill fail. 655 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:41,520 Speaker 2: Henry Ward Beecher said of Sumner, quote, he was a 656 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:45,120 Speaker 2: man of courage and of fidelity to his convictions. He 657 00:40:45,239 --> 00:40:49,400 Speaker 2: never meanly calculated. He never asked the question whether it 658 00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:52,759 Speaker 2: was dangerous to speak. He was one of those heroic 659 00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:55,920 Speaker 2: spirits that carried the fight further than it needed to 660 00:40:55,960 --> 00:41:00,160 Speaker 2: be carried. He aired by an excess of bravery. He 661 00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:03,880 Speaker 2: was a self sacrificing man, giving up every prospect of 662 00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:08,800 Speaker 2: life for the sake of doing his duty and establishing rectitude. 663 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:12,960 Speaker 1: The executor of Sumner's estate was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who 664 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:17,760 Speaker 1: tried to gather and preserve his correspondents. Samuel Gridley Howe 665 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:20,600 Speaker 1: sent only the letters he thought were appropriate. 666 00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:24,600 Speaker 2: In the wake of Sumner's death, Congress passed the Civil 667 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:28,000 Speaker 2: Rights Act of eighteen seventy five, which was not nearly 668 00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:31,879 Speaker 2: as broad as what Sumner had been striving for. It 669 00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:35,279 Speaker 2: did say that quote, all persons within the jurisdiction of 670 00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:38,640 Speaker 2: the United States shall be entitled to the full and 671 00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:43,560 Speaker 2: equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, 672 00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:47,440 Speaker 2: public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places 673 00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:51,160 Speaker 2: of public amusement, subject only to the conditions and limitations 674 00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:55,120 Speaker 2: established by law, and applicable alike to citizens of every 675 00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:58,879 Speaker 2: race and color, regardless of any previous condition of servitude. 676 00:41:59,719 --> 00:42:03,120 Speaker 2: This Act was not widely enforced, and the Supreme Court 677 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:07,880 Speaker 2: struck it down as unconstitutional in eighteen eighty three. A 678 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:12,120 Speaker 2: lot of Sumner's proposed provisions, though, did become law under 679 00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:15,640 Speaker 2: the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty four, almost one 680 00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:16,760 Speaker 2: hundred years later. 681 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,600 Speaker 1: That is our three parts on Charles Sumner. Do you 682 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:24,120 Speaker 1: have a single part listener mail? 683 00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:31,920 Speaker 2: I do. It is from Krista, Krista, Holly, and Tracy. 684 00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:33,840 Speaker 2: I learned a few years ago that the most common 685 00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:37,640 Speaker 2: animal that causes deaths is mosquitos, so I joined Tracy 686 00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:40,680 Speaker 2: in disliking mosquitos for that alone. I know they're good 687 00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:42,960 Speaker 2: for the ecosystem, but it's a shame they spread to 688 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:46,319 Speaker 2: so many diseases. I also hate tics. Tics do not 689 00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:48,680 Speaker 2: occur where I lived when I was a kid, which 690 00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:52,000 Speaker 2: was in Ontario. The idea of tics is so vile, 691 00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:54,279 Speaker 2: and now my area of the world is a hot 692 00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:58,040 Speaker 2: spot Offlyme disease. Something like half of ticks test positive 693 00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:01,640 Speaker 2: for lyme where I am. Some test potositive for antaplasmosis 694 00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:05,680 Speaker 2: and babiosis. Very rude, so I appreciated Tracy saying she 695 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:08,080 Speaker 2: is on the same page as me. I would also 696 00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:10,840 Speaker 2: get a line vaccine with seventy five percent reduction. 697 00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:11,800 Speaker 1: Yay science. 698 00:43:13,080 --> 00:43:16,040 Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to spooky season podcasts, and I'm looking 699 00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:19,960 Speaker 2: forward to December holiday slash Christmas y podcasts. I love 700 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:24,120 Speaker 2: baking podcasts and the eponymous foods, sewing history, anything and 701 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:27,200 Speaker 2: everything science related, and as many whimsical themes as you 702 00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:29,360 Speaker 2: can come up with. And I miss Crampis and Friends. 703 00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:31,600 Speaker 2: But of course the reason you don't do them every 704 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:33,759 Speaker 2: year is because how many can possibly be left. So 705 00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,160 Speaker 2: I was trying to find new friends and research to help. 706 00:43:36,719 --> 00:43:38,600 Speaker 2: I don't think I found enough for one episode, but 707 00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:41,000 Speaker 2: I found a few things, so I'm passing them along 708 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:43,040 Speaker 2: in case others help you out. In between all this, 709 00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:46,440 Speaker 2: you can cobble together an episode. Laba Fana is still 710 00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:49,399 Speaker 2: my favorite, but I've enjoyed them all. And then there 711 00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:55,200 Speaker 2: is just a list of possible ideas for maybe future 712 00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:57,840 Speaker 2: Crampus and Friends. So I'll be making sure that Holly 713 00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:02,480 Speaker 2: has this since Crampis and f has been Holly's holiday 714 00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:08,880 Speaker 2: winter season tradition. Yeah, I just was. I also just 715 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:12,680 Speaker 2: wanted to say yes tics Mosquitoes. Still not a fan, 716 00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:16,880 Speaker 2: So thank you so much for this email, Christa and 717 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:19,880 Speaker 2: these ideas. If you would so like to send us 718 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:22,080 Speaker 2: a note about this or any other podcast. We're at 719 00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:26,480 Speaker 2: History podcast atiheartradio dot com and you can subscribe to 720 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:29,160 Speaker 2: our show on the iHeartRadio app and anywhere else you 721 00:44:29,239 --> 00:44:37,040 Speaker 2: like to get your podcasts. Stuff you missed in History 722 00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:41,439 Speaker 2: Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 723 00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:45,160 Speaker 2: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 724 00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:46,240 Speaker 2: to your favorite shows.