Charles Sumner
A fiercely principled U.S. Senator whose physical beating on the Senate floor became a symbol of the violent divide over slavery.
1811–1874 (age 63)·American abolitionist and statesman·Birthday: January 6
Biography
Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was not a man built for political compromise. Tall, stern, and armed with a formidable intellect, he entered the U.S. Senate in 1851 as a moral crusader, delivering blistering orations that framed slavery not as a political issue but a profound sin. His 1856 speech, "The Crime Against Kansas," which personally insulted Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina, provoked a savage retaliation: Butler's cousin, Congressman Preston Brooks, caned Sumner nearly to death on the Senate floor. The attack, and Sumner's three-year absence for recovery, turned him into a martyr for the abolitionist cause. After the Civil War, as a leader of the Radical Republicans, he pushed relentlessly for full racial equality, championing the 13th Amendment and fighting for integrated schools and voting rights. He famously refused to let his name be added to the 1875 Civil Rights Act, believing it was too weak, yet his vision laid the groundwork for the civil rights battles of the next century.
#1 When Charles Was Born
The biggest hits of 1811
Charles's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1811Born
1816Started school
1824Became a teenager
1827Could drive
1829Could vote
1832Turned 21
1841Turned 30
1851Turned 40
1861Turned 50
President: Abraham Lincoln
1871Turned 60
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1874Died at 63
President: Ulysses S. Grant
Key Achievements
- Delivered the landmark 'The Crime Against Kansas' speech in 1856, a vehement attack on the expansion of slavery that led to his caning.
- Served as a primary architect of Reconstruction policy, advocating for citizenship and voting rights for freedmen.
- Successfully pushed for the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau to aid formerly enslaved people after the Civil War.
- Introduced the original bill that eventually became the Civil Rights Act of 1875, the last federal civil rights law of the 19th century.
- Was the first senator to argue for the desegregation of public schools, a position far ahead of its time.
Did You Know?
He was fluent in several languages, including French, German, and Italian, which he used in his extensive study of law and history.
Sumner's empty Senate chair was left as a monument to his caning for three years while he recovered.
He amassed a personal library of over 10,000 volumes, one of the largest in the United States at the time.
Despite his fierce public persona, he was known to be a charming and witty conversationalist in private social settings.
“Where Slavery is, there Liberty cannot be; and where Liberty is, there Slavery cannot be.”
