Charles Sumner (1811-74) played an important role in the abolition of slavery and helped to frame three amendments protecting basic human rights. Sumner fought for the desegregation of public schools over one hundred years ahead of Brown v. Board of Education. He is most famous for being attacked for a passionate and personal speech against slavery. Sumner might have been gay. He helped with the annexation of Alaska. He continued to promote civil rights until his dying day. A former Confederate eulogized him as a sign of reconciliation, as discussed in John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage.
Founders and Framers
The terms “Founder” and “Framer” are usually applied to people involved in the development of our independence and nationhood (Founders) and the crafting of the Constitution (Framers).
What about those involved in the founding of a “new birth of freedom,” to quote Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address? These people framed three constitutional amendments ending slavery, protecting citizenship rights, and opposing racial discrimination in voting.
These Founders and Framers, including Charles Sumner, are often ignored.
Early Years
The Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) upheld racial segregation and established the infamous “separate but equal” rule. The justices cited a state case allowing the separation of the races in Boston schools. If Boston thought it was okay, it must be! One man disagreed.
Charles Sumner was born in 1811. He grew up in a racially diverse area of Boston. Sumner went to Harvard College and Law School. He promoted education and prison reform.
Sumner was an intellectual. He did not have great people skills. He was tall, good-looking, and firm about his opinions. He gave educated, learned lectures that some deemed a tad pretentious. Sumner opposed slavery and supported racial equality. In those days, many disliked slavery while still being racist. He opposed the Mexican War and the Compromise of 1850.
He was co-counsel in Roberts v. City of Boston, opposing school segregation using arguments that would be successful one hundred years later in Brown v. Board of Education. Sumner lost his case, though Massachusetts abolished school segregation five years later.
Sumner spent most of his life as a bachelor. Some historians believe he was gay. He married in 1866. It was an unhappy marriage. The couple soon separated. They later divorced. They had no children. Sumner was a close friend of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Senator Sumner
Charles did not like politics. He was not a “people’s” person. Nonetheless, a coalition of Free Soilers and Democrats in the state legislature chose Sumner as U.S. senator in 1851.
His maiden speech passionately denounced slavery and pushed for the repeal of the Compromise of 1850. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise, appalled him. Sumner gave a speech entitled “The Crime Against Kansas.” He made it personal, insulting Senator Andrew Butler, an important senator from South Carolina.
Preston Brooks, a cousin and United States representative from South Carolina, attacked Sumner while he was sitting at his desk. The caning was a sign of disrespect, an inferior not worthy of a challenge to a duel. It took years for Sumner to fully recover from his wounds.
Sumner became a hero to the anti-slavery movement. Brooks, who died shortly afterwards, became a symbol of the cruelty of slavery and the excessive passions of the South.
Civil War and Beyond
Senator Sumner became the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
During the Civil War, he promoted emancipation, the use of black soldiers, and the establishment of a Freedmen’s Bureau. He supported the Radical Republicans during Reconstruction, arguing that the Southern states committed “state suicide.”
His no compromise approach led to conflict with colleagues. Sumner repeatedly argued that civil rights proposals were too moderate. He would have included a statement in the Thirteenth Amendment (banning slavery) protecting equal protection under law. He supported black suffrage before many others. Republicans first tried a more limited protection of voting rights.
Sumner’s chairmanship would help gain support for the annexation of Alaska. He gave a three-hour speech, providing a learned lecture on the region, how annexation would promote republican values, friendly relations with Russia, and benefit the United States economically.
He supported President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment. Sumner also clashed with President Grant, opposing his goal of acquiring Santo Domingo. His battles with Grant led to the loss of Sumner’s chairmanship. He supported Grant’s opponent in the election of 1872.
Sumner’s Final Battle
Sumner supported the Liberal Republicans in the 1872 presidential election.
He opposed postwar corruption, including corruption in the Grant Administration. Sumner also promoted conciliation with the South. He felt that it was time to unite the country.
Sumner remained a strong supporter of civil rights. He supported amnesty for former Confederates, giving them back their civil rights, in return for legislation supporting civil rights for all. His bill would ban racial segregation in public accommodations, theaters, public schools, churches, and cemeteries. Sumner continued to plead for support on his deathbed in 1874.
The Civil Rights Act of 1875, after the more controversial parts about cemeteries and schools were removed, was passed in his memory. A former Confederate, as discussed in Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy, gave an eulogy in honor of Senator Sumner.
The Supreme Court would declare the law unconstitutional, having a narrower view of the reach of constitutional equality. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, partially relying on the Commerce Clause, would try to attack the same problem. This time, the Supreme Court declared it okay.