CHARLES SUMNER

The true grandeur of humanity is in moral elevation, sustained, enlightened and decorated by the intellect of man.

The age of chivalry has gone; the age of humanity has come.

From the beginning of our history the country has been afflicted with compromise. It is by compromise that human rights have been abandoned.

No true and permanent fame can be founded except in labors which promote the happiness of mankind.

I have never known a man who was sensual in his youth, who was high-minded when old.

The Great Guarantee; and the only sufficient Guarantee

Let the Negro have the shield of impartial laws. Let him be heard in court

My worst preconception of their appearance and their ignorance did not fall as low as their actual stupidity ... They appear to be nothing more than moving masses of flesh unendowed with anything of intelligence above the brutes

If the power exists in the present case it cannot be restricted to this alone. The Committee may distribute all the children into classes, according to mere discretion. They may establish a separate school for Irish or Germans… They may separate Catholics from Protestants … separate different sects of Protestants … establish a separate school for the rich, that the delicate taste of this favored class may not be offended by the humble garments of the poor … All this, and much more, can be done in the exercise of that high-handed power which makes a discrimination on account of race or color

Slavery is a conspiracy of the lords of the loom and the lords of the lash.

It is with humiliation that I am forced to insist upon the same equality in other public institutions of learning and science, also in churches and in the last resting-places of the dead. So far as any of these are public in character and organized by law, they must follow the general requirement. How strange that any institution of learning or science, any church or any cemetery should set up a discrimination so utterly inconsistent with correct principle

Separate schools for African Americans in effect branded a whole race with the stigma of inferiority and degradation

Every Constitution embodies the principles of its framers. It is a transcript of their minds. If its meaning in any place is open to doubt, or if words are used which seem to have no fixed signification, we cannot err if we turn to the framers; and their authority increases in proportion to the evidence which they left on the question.

The nation needs"a president with brains; one who can make a plan and carry it out.

The Freedmen's Bureau, that sacred charity of the Republic, was despoiled of its possessions for the sake of rebels, to whom their forfeited estates were given back after they had been vested by law in the United States. The proceeds of captured and abandoned property, lodged under the law in the national treasury, were ravished from their place of deposit and sacrificed. Rebels were allowed to fill the ante-chambers of the Executive Mansion and to enter into his counsels. The pardoning power was prostituted, and pardons were issued in lots to suit rebels.

There are many disgusting elements in Slavery which are not present in Polygamy, while the single disgusting element of Polygamy is more than present in Slavery. By the license of Polygamy, one man may have many wives, all bound to him by the marriage tie, and in other respects protected by law.

The powers of the Senate over appointments were trifled with and disregarded by reappointing persons who had been already rejected …. The veto power conferred by the Constitution as a remedy for ill-considered legislation, was turned by him into a weapon of offence against Congress

More than one person was appointed provisional governor who could not take the oath of office required by act of Congress. Other persons in the same predicament were appointed in the revenue service. The effect of these appointments was disastrous. They were in the nature of notice to rebels everywhere, that participation in the rebellion was no bar to office. If one of their number could be appointed governor, if another could be appointed to a confidential position in the Treasury Department, then there was nobody on the long list of blood who might not look for preferment. And thus all offices from governor to constable were handed over to a disloyal scramble. Rebels crawled forth from their retreats. Men who had hardly ventured to expect their lives were now candidates for office, and the rebellion became strong again. The change was felt in all the gradations of government, whether in States, counties, towns, or villages. Rebels found themselves in places of trust, while the true-hearted Unionists, who had watched for the coming of our flag and ought to have enjoyed its protecting power, were driven into hiding-places. All this was under the auspices of Andrew Johnson

This is one of the last great battles with slavery. Driven from these legislative chambers, driven from the field of war, this monstrous power has found a refuge in the Executive Mansion, where, in utter disregard of the Constitution and laws, it seeks to exercise its ancient far reaching sway.... Andrew Johnson is the impersonation of the tyrannical slave power. In him it lives again.

The wise fathers did not treat the country as a Chinese foot, never to grow after infancy; but, anticipating Progress, they declared expressly that their great Act is not final. According to the Constitution itself, there is not one of its existing provisions — not even that with regard to fugitives from labor — which may not at all times be reached by amendment, and thus be drawn into debate. This is rational and just. Sir, nothing from man's hands, nor law, nor constitution, can be final. Truth alone is final.

The truest tokens of this grandeur in a State are the diffusion of the greatest happiness among the greatest number, and that passionless God-like Justice, which controls the relations of the State to other States, and to all the people, who are committed to its charge

It is not enough to show me that a measure is expedient: you must show me also that it is right.

The true greatness of nations is in those qualities which constitute the greatness of the individual.

Nothing from man's hands, nor law, nor constitution, can be final. Truth alone is final.

If a man has done evil in his life, he must not be complimented in marble.