Charles Sumner

Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811 – March 11, 1874) was an American politician, and lawyer. He was senator from Massachusetts from April 24, 1851 until his death.

Career
Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts. He was a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the American Civil War. He worked to destroy the Confederacy, free all the slaves and keep on good terms with Europe. During Reconstruction, he fought to minimize the power of the ex-Confederates and guarantee equal rights to the Freedmen.

Brook's attack
In 1856 Sumner made a speech against slavery and the Kansas–Nebraska Act. Sumner attacked many senators about bleeding Kansas and slavery including Senator Stephen A. Douglas and South Carolina's Andrew Butler. The Representative from South Carolina, Preston Brooks (Andrew Butler's nephew), became angry because he attacked his uncle. Brooks grabbed his cane and knocked Sumner onto the Senate floor.William James Hoffer, The Caning of Charles Sumner: Honor, Idealism, and the Origins of the Civil War (2010) p. 62 Sumner had to stop his political career until he recovered two years later.

Personal life
Sumner was born on January 6, 1811 in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied at Boston Latin School and at Harvard College. Sumner was married to Alice Hopper from 1866 until they divorced in 1873. They had no children. Sumner died on March 11, 1874 in Washington, D.C. from a heart attack, aged 63.

References

Other websites

  Mr. Lincoln and Freedom: Charles Sumner 
 Sumner's "Crime Against Kansas" speech

The Liberator Files, Items concerning Charles Sumner from Horace Seldon's collection and summary of research of William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator original copies at the Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts.

Category:1811 births
Category:1874 deaths
Category:American abolitionists
Category:Lawyers from Boston
Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction
Category:Episcopalians
Category:Politicians from Boston
Category:United States senators from Massachusetts
Category:Republican Party (United States) politicians