Charles Sumner

“ To my mind the State is the people, and its highest office is their just safeguard; and when it is declared that a State hereafter shall not take away the right of any of its people, here is no infringement of anything that belongs to a State. I entreat my friend to bear the distinction in mind. A State can have no right or privilege to do wrong; nor can the denial of this pretension disparage the State, or in any way impair its complete equality with other States. The States have no power except to do justice. Any power beyond this is contrary to the Harmonies of the Universe. ”

“ Thus every achievement in thought or science, every discovery by which Man is elevated, becomes the common property of the whole Human Family. There can be no monopoly. Sooner or later all enjoy the triumph. Standing on the shoulders of the Past, Man stands also on the shoulders of every science discovered, every art advanced, every truth declared. There is no height of culture or of virtue—if virtue itself be not the highest culture—which may not be reached. There is no excellence of government or society which may not be grasped. ”

“ And I believe that the time is at hand when another document of our history will stand side by side with the Constitution, and enjoy with it coëqual authority, as it has more than the renown of the Constitution: I mean the Declaration of Independence. This is the first Constitution of our history. It is our first Magna Charta. Nor can any State depart from it; nor can this Nation depart from it. To all the promises and the pledges of that great Declaration are we all pledged, whether as Nation or as State. The Nation, when it bends before them, exalts itself ”

“ He became a Representative in Congress, and, better still, a vindicator of the Rights of Man. Unhappily, that barbarism which we call Slavery is not yet dead, and it was his fate to fall under its vindictive assault. Pleading for the Equal Rights of All, he became a victim and martyr.
Thus suddenly arrested in life, his death is a special sorrow, not only to family and friends, but to the country which he had begun to serve so well. The void, when a young man dies, is measured less by what he has done than by the promises of the future. ”

“ May not the Government insist that they shall do their part on this great occasion? Shall this effort of ours to readjust our finances and to save this large interest to our country be thwarted by a pretension on the part of the banks that we have not the power to interfere?
But we are reminded that there is a difference between power and right. How often, Sir, on other occasions, have I so insisted in this Chamber! A great, broad, vital distinction there always is between power and right. A nation or an individual may have a power without right. ”

“ It remains for us to show how a Republic can conquer in a field more glorious than battle, where all these millions of citizens and all this untold treasure uphold the Public Faith. Such an example will elevate Republican Government, and make the idea of a Republic more than ever great and splendid. Helping here, you help not only your own country, but help Humanity also,—help liberal institutions in all lands,—help the down-trodden everywhere, and all who struggle against the wrong and tyranny of earth. ”

“ Men ordinarily find in the Constitution what is in themselves; so that the Constitution in its meaning is little more than a reflection of their own inner nature. As I am unable to find any ground of doubt, in substance or even in shadow, I shrink from a proposition which assumes that there is doubt. To my mind the power is too clear for question. As well question the obligation of Congress to guaranty a republican form of government, or the abolition of Slavery, or the prohibition upon States to interfere with the rights and privileges of citizenship, each of which is beyond question. ”

“ Looking into his soul, he will there find the great irreversible Law of Right, universal for the nation as for himself, commanding to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and under the safeguard of this universal law I now place the rights of all mankind. It is little that I can do; but, taking counsel of my desires, I am not without hope of contributing something to that just judgment which shall blast the effrontery of Caste as doubly offensive, not only to the idea of a Republic, but to Human Nature itself. ”

“ Has not Cuba reached his condition of maturity? Is it not sufficient for itself? At all events, is victory over a colony contending for independence worth the blood and treasure it will cost? These are serious questions, which can be answered properly only by putting aside all passion and prejudice of empire, and calmly confronting the actual condition of things. Nor must the case of Cuba be confounded for a moment with our wicked Rebellion, having for its object the dismemberment of a Republic, to found a new power with Slavery as its vaunted corner-stone. ”

“ As in determining the function of Government, so here again is the necessity of knowledge. Man must know himself, and that law of Unity appointed for the Human Family. Such is the true light for our steps. Here are guidance and safety. Who can measure the value of knowledge? What imagination can grasp its infinite power? As well measure the sun in its glory. The friendly lamp in our streets is more than the police. Light in the world is more than armies or navies. Where its rays penetrate, there has civilization begun. Not the earth, but the sun, is the centre of our system ”

“ Above the State rises the image of Justice, lofty, blindfold, with balance in hand. There it stands in colossal form with constant lesson of Equal Rights for All, while under its inspiration government proceeds according to laws which cannot be disobeyed with impunity, and Providence is behind to sustain the righteous hand. In proportion as men are wise, they recognize these laws and confess the exalted science. ”

“ Now, therefore,
“Be it enacted, &c., That in all States lately declared to be in rebellion there shall be no oligarchy invested with peculiar privileges and powers, and there shall be no denial of rights, civil or political, on account of race or color; but all persons shall be equal before the law, whether in the court-room or at the ballot-box. And this statute, made in pursuance of the Constitution, shall be the supreme law of the land, anything in the Constitution or laws of any such State to the contrary notwithstanding.” ”

“ I would issue a bank-note for every dollar of Treasury obligation cancelled; but I would issue no bank-note that did not absorb an equal obligation of the Treasury. By this distribution of a portion of the demand obligations you restore to the Government the full ability to meet the remainder; and at the same time the people know, that, so far as the currency goes,—and it is of this only we are treating,—every promise of any bank has its ultimate recourse in the Treasury of the United States. ”

“ God is Universal Father; then are we all brothers. If not all children of Adam, we are all children of God,—if not all from the same father on earth, we are all from the same Father in Heaven; and this affecting relationship, which knows no distinction of race or color, is more vital and ennobling than any monopoly. Here, once more, is that universal law which forbids Caste, speaking not only with the voice of Science, but of Religion also,—praying, pleading, protesting, in the name of a Common Father, against such wrong and insult to our brother man. ”

“ There are other fields of glory than in war, and such a triumph will be among the most important in the annals of finance. But to this end there must be no hesitation. The offer must be plain,—“Bonds or coin,”—giving the world assurance of our determination. The answer will be as prompt as the offer,—“Bonds, and not coin.”
In the process of Financial Reconstruction we cannot forget the National Banks, which have already done so much. The uniform currency which they supply throughout the country commends them to our care. ”

“ Who does not feel his feet burn as he moves over the treacherous ashes? If I wished any new motive for opposition to the Democracy, I should find it in this hostile alliance. Because I am for peace so that this whole people may be at work, because I desire tranquillity so that all may be happy, because I seek reconciliation so that there shall be completest harmony, therefore I oppose the Democracy and now denounce it as Disturber of the National Peace.
The information from the South is most painful. Old Rebels are crawling from hiding-places to resume their former rule ”

“ Thus far government has been at best an Art, like alchemy or astrology, where ministers exercised a subtle power, or speculators tried imaginative experiments, seeking some philosopher’s-stone at the expense of the people. Though in many respects still an Art only, it is fast becoming a Science founded on principles and laws from which there can be no just departure. As a science, it is determined by knowledge, like any other science, aided by that universal handmaid, the philosophy of induction. ”

“ A power to regulate is not a power to destroy or to disfranchise. In an evil hour Human Rights may be struck down, but it cannot be merely by “regulations.” The pretension that under such authority this great wrong may be done is another illustration of that extravagance which the champions do not shrink from avowing.
The whole structure of Caste and Oligarchy, as founded on two words, may be dismissed. ”

“ But among those transported to this hemisphere heroes have not been wanting. Nowhere in history was the heroical character more conspicuous than in our fugitive slaves. Their story, transferred to Greece or Rome, would be a much-admired chapter, from which youth would derive new passion for Liberty. The story of the African in our late war would be another chapter, awakening kindred emotion. But it is in a slave of the West Indies, whose parents were stolen from Africa, that we find an example of genius and wisdom, courage and character, with all the elements of general and ruler. ”

“ It is for us to show that he was right; nor can we depart from this rule of Virtue without disturbing the order of the universe. Faith is nothing less than a part of that sublime harmony by which the planets wheel surely in their appointed orbits, and nations are summoned to justice. [Pg 115] Nothing too lofty for its power, nothing too lowly for its protection. It is an essential principle in the divine Cosmos, without which confusion reigns supreme. All depends upon Faith. Why do you build? Because you have faith in those laws by which you are secured in person and property. ”

“ Here all knowledge and every science concur. Anatomy, physiology, psychology, history, the equal promises to all men, testify. Look at Man on the dissecting table, and he is always the same, no matter in what color he is clad,—same limbs, same bones, same proportions, same structure, same upright stature. Look at Man in the world, and you will find him in nature always the same,—modified only by the civilization about him. There is no human being, black or yellow, who may not apply to himself the language of Shakespeare’s Jew ”

“ Clearly, unquestionably, beyond all doubt, that, Sir, was the greatest victory of our war,—greater than any found on any field of blood: as a victory of ideas is above any victory of the sword; as the establishment of Human Rights is the end and consummation of government, without which government is hard to bear, if not a sham.
January 17th, the Joint Resolution as amended was laid on the table, and the Senate took up the House bill, which admitted the State to representation clear of all conditions ”

“ The truth must be told,—not in anger, but in sadness. England has done to the United States an injury most difficult to measure. Considering when it was done and in what complicity, it is truly unaccountable. At a great epoch of history, not less momentous than that of the French Revolution or that of the Reformation, when Civilization was fighting a last battle with Slavery, England gave her name, her influence, her material resources to the wicked cause, and flung a sword into the scale with Slavery. ”

“ Because man is black, because man is yellow, he is none the less Man; because man is white, he is none the more Man. By this great title he is universal heir to all that Man can claim. Because he is Man, and not on account of color, he enters into possession of the promised dominion over the animal kingdom,—“over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” ”