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Veteran Abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner Supports the Thirteenth Amendment
Veteran Abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner Supports the Thirteenth Amendment
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Charles Sumner
New York, NY, ca. 1864
Veteran Abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner Supports the Thirteenth Amendment
Pamphlet/Booklet
[SLAVERY]. CHARLES SUMNER, No Property in Man. Printed Pamphlet. New York: Loyal Publication Society, 1864. 24 pp. + paper cover, 5.5" x 8.5". Disbound; light toning; small area of staining on margin of several pages.

This pamphlet reproduces a speech delivered by Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts in favor of the proposed Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery on April 8, 1864, in the United States Senate. He entitled his speech, "No Property in Man." Later that day, the U.S. Senate adopted the proposed Thirteenth Amendment by a vote of 38 to 6.

Excerpts
"Mr. President, if an angel from the skies or a stranger from another planet were permitted to visit this earth and to examine its surface, who can doubt that his eyes would rest with astonishment upon the outstretched extent and exhaustless resources of this Republic of the New World, young in years but already rooted beyond any dynasty in history? In proportion as he considered and understood all those things among us which enter into and constitute the national life, his astonishment would increase, for he would find a numerous people, powerful beyond precedent, without a king or a noble, but with the schoolmaster instead. And yet the astonishment which he confessed, as all these things appeared before him, would swell into marvel as he learned that in this Republic, which had arrested his admiration, where there was neither king nor noble, but the schoolmaster instead, there were four million human beings in abject bondage, degraded to be chattels, under the pretense of property in man, driven by the lash like beasts, despoiled of all rights, even the right to knowledge and the sacred right of family; so that the relation of husband and wife was impossible and no parent could claim his own child; while all were condemned to brutish ignorance. Startled by what he beheld, the stranger would naturally inquire by what authority, under what sanction, and through what terms of law or Constitution, this fearful inconsistency, so shocking to human nature itself, continued to be upheld. But his growing astonishment would know no bounds, when he was pointed to the Constitution of the United States, as the final guardian and conservator of this peculiar and many-headed wickedness." (p3-4)

"And yet slavery still exists—in defiance of all these requirements of the Constitution; nay, more, in defiance of reason and justice, which can never be disobeyed with impunity—it exists, the perpetual spoiler of human rights and disturber of the public peace, degrading master as well as slave, corrupting society, weakening Government, impoverishing the very soil itself, and impairing the natural resources of the country. Such an outrage, so offensive in every respect, not only to the Constitution, but also to the whole system of order by which the universe is governed, is plainly a national nuisance, which, for the general welfare, and the name of justice, ought to be abated. But at this moment, when it menaces the national life, it will not be enough to treat slavery merely as a nuisance, for it is much more. It is a public enemy and traitor wherever it shows itself, to be subdued, in the discharge of solemn guarantees of Government and of personal rights, and in the exercise of unquestionable and indefeasable rights of self-defense." (p11)

"So long as a single slave continues anywhere beneath the flag of the Republic I am unwilling to rest." (p18)

"I am consoled by the thought that the most homely text containing such a rule will be more beautiful far than any words of poetry or eloquence, and that it will endure to be read with gratitude when the rising dome of this Capitol, with the statue of Liberty which surmounts it, has crumbled to dust." (p23)

Historical Background
While the advance of the Union Army expanded the effects of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln also advocated a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery everywhere in the United States. On December 14, 1863, Ohio Congressman James M. Ashley introduced such an amendment in the House of Representatives. Senator John Brooks Henderson of the slave state of Missouri followed suit in the Senate on January 11, 1864, by submitting a joint resolution for an amendment abolishing slavery.

The proposal passed in the Senate on April 8, 1864, by a vote of 38 to 6. Two months later, however, the House of Representatives rejected it by a vote of 95 in favor to 66 opposed, thereby failing to reach the two-thirds majority necessary for approval.

Lincoln's victory over McClellan in 1864 gave him a new mandate and enough seats in the House of Representatives to guarantee passage of the stalled amendment when the new Congress met in March. Not content to wait, the amendment's supporters brought the measure to another vote in the House on January 31, 1865. This time, the House passed the Amendment by a vote of 119 to 56. Although the Constitution does not require it, President Abraham Lincoln added "Approved" and his signature to some copies of the amendment.

According to the Constitution, three-quarters of all states had to ratify an amendment for it to become part of the founding document. Twenty-seven of the thirty-six states in 1865 would have to pass the Thirteenth Amendment. Illinois ratified the amendment on February 1, the day after it passed Congress, and seventeen more states followed that same month.

On July 1, 1865, New Hampshire became the twenty-third state to ratify the amendment, four short of full ratification. For the next four months, no additional states ratified the amendment.

In mid-November 1865, the South Carolina legislature ratified the amendment but issued its own interpretive declaration that "any attempt by Congress toward legislating upon the political status of former slaves, or their civil relations, would be contrary to the Constitution of the United States." During the first week of December, Alabama (December 2), North Carolina (December 4), and Georgia (December 6) each ratified the amendment. The Alabama legislature declared that their ratification did not imply federal power to legislate on the status of former slaves. On December 5, the Mississippi legislature rejected the amendment. That state did not pass the Thirteenth Amendment until 1995, 130 years after it became part of the Constitution, and it was the last state existing in 1865 to do so.

Since three-fourths of the states had ratified the amendment, Secretary of State Seward certified on December 18 that the Thirteenth Amendment had become a part of the U.S. Constitution. He accepted the affirmative votes of three former Confederate states who had ratified the amendment with qualifications. Seward ignored their declarations without comment, challenge, or even acknowledgment.

Charles Sumner (1811-1874) was born in Boston and graduated from Harvard College in 1830 and from Harvard Law School in 1834. Admitted to the bar in 1834, he joined a private practice in Boston. From 1837 to 1840, he traveled in Europe and became fluent in French, Spanish, German, and Italian. He met many of the leading statesmen of Europe and determined to be an abolitionist when he returned to America. He became a popular orator for formal occasions, spoke against slavery and the Mexican War, and worked with Horace Mann to improve public education. In 1848, he helped organize the Free Soil Party, and in 1851, Democrats gained control of the Massachusetts state legislature in coalition with Free Soilers. The legislature elected Sumner to the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1851 to 1874, initially as a Free Soiler and later as a Republican. He became a leader of the opponents of slavery in Congress. When Sumner mocked pro-slavery Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina in 1856, Butler's cousin Representative Preston Brooks retaliated by beating Sumner into unconsciousness on the Senate floor. While Brooks became a hero in the South, most northerners were outraged at the assault on free speech. Sumner traveled to Europe twice to recuperate and did not return permanently to the Senate until 1859. During the Civil War, Sumner was a member of the Radical Republicans, who pressured President Abraham Lincoln to issue an emancipation decree. Sumner served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, from which he orchestrated U.S. recognition of Haiti in 1862. After the Civil War, Sumner was instrumental in the impeachment proceedings against President Andrew Johnson.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 5.5" x 8.5"
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