Collection Search

To John Stone

"The subject of arbitrary arrests is certainly a very grave one. All my instincts are in favor of the largest liberty of this subject."

GLC08046

to [John] K. Wiggin

Written from the Senate Chamber. Discusses autographs and thanks Wiggin for preparing engravings: "The Milton autograph was photographed by C. H. Brainard who has copies- I suppose. I have none... I am glad to know that the Engravings are framed, &...

GLC02095.07

to unknown

Mentions Mr. Woodman and a provostship. Writes "Charleston is to be taken on the field of battle - by beating their armies," a reference to the unsuccessful ironclad attack on Fort Sumter 7 April 1863 undertaken by Union admiral Samuel F. DuPont.

GLC02095.11

to [Arnold] B. Johnson

"The 'water-closet' is one of the gifts of modern civilization, & must always be taken into account when you select a house." Written to Johnson in Washington, D.C.

GLC02095.13

to [Edward W.] Kinsley

Marked private. Written from the Senate Chamber. Complains about the Boston press being hard on him, criticizes President Ulysses S. Grant's attempt to annex Santo Domingo, and rails against Grant's leadership in general: "I did not write to...

GLC02095.16

[Quotation of Charles Sumner on freedom]

Complete quotation reads: "Freedom always for all!" Marked Senate Chamber.

GLC02095.28

to unknown

Regrets having to decline attending a meeting: "Consider me always as deeply interested in the cause, but as reluctantly compelled to forego participation in your meeting."

GLC02095.02

to Thomas L. Sprague

Thanks Sprague, a schoolboy, for his compliments: "Through my mother, who recently visited your friends in Hingham, I have learned your kind interest in me, & the manner in which you have spoken of me in one of your exercises at school. The words of...

GLC02095.04

[Quotation of Charles Sumner]

Complete quotation reads: "In the universe of God there are no accidents."

GLC02095.29

to T. P. Chandler

Writes about speaking in the Senate: "Had I made that speech, I would have taken a vacation of a week or more. Now I wait the Civil Appropriation Bill, when I shall move an Amendment, that nothing be paid [to] the execution of the Fug. Sl. Bill, but...

GLC02095.03

to A. M. Knapp

Replies to a request from Knapp, in Boston, for written works. States that he has no more to distribute. Informs Knapp that he can obtain copies of "Emery's work" at [Burnham's] bookstore in Boston. Written from the Senate Chamber.

GLC02095.10

to John T. Hoffman

Writes to the Governor of New York and encloses a letter (enclosure not included). States he does not know anything of the writer nor of the case, but transmits the letter because it concerns a human life.

GLC02095.15

to Azariah Smith

Thanks him for his letter. Plans to leave for Washington, D.C., "simply to vote" presumably in Senate. After Washington, Sumner plans to travel to Europe "in search of that complete restoration which I have not yet found at home."

GLC02095.05

[Check signed by Charles Sumner]

Check for $354.51 payable to Mr. Elliott C. Cowdin from the First National Bank, Washington, D.C. Signed by Sumner. Endorsed on verso. With US inter-revenue stamp.

GLC02095.33

The barbarism of slavery. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, on the Bill for the admission of Kansas as a free state.

Given in the Senate, 4 June 1860. Condemns slavery as barbaric and criticizes various pro-slavery arguments, including that slavery was not upheld by the United States Constitution. Published by Thaddeus Hyatt, Washington, D.C. Printed as the clergy...

GLC02095.21

[Quotation of Charles Sumner on liberty]

Complete quotation reads: "And I cannot go wrong when I lean to the side of Liberty."

GLC02095.27

to S.R. Phillips

Replies that a paper Phillips requested cannot be obtained today as his colleague, who has it, is absent. Ends by saying, "We are tranquil at last." Written on a United States Postal card to Phillips at the State House in Boston. Marked Senate...

GLC02095.31

[Carte-de-visite of Charles Sumner]

Portrait photograph of Sumner as a middle-aged man. Signed by Sumner along the base of the image. Photographer is unknown.

GLC02095.41

to Benjamin F. Butler

Comments on Butler leaving government service: "I see that you are no longer in the service of the Government of the U.S. The country may now claim you." Asks if Butler can address the State Convention in Boston on September 6th and 7th.

GLC02095.01

to unknown

Thanks an unknown "sir" for his words of sympathy: "Accept my thanks for the words of cheer & sympathy which you kindly write. I have tried to do my duty & shall continue unto the end."

GLC02095.08

[Quotation of Charles Sumner on equality]

Complete quotation reads: "Equality of rights is the first of rights."

GLC02095.30

to Elliot C. Cowdin

Wishes Cowdin a happy New Year. Addressed to Cowdin in New York.

GLC02095.17

to [Edward W.] Kinsley

Criticizes Buenaventura Baez, President of the Dominican Republic. Kinsley apparently informed Sumner of a dinner for Baez. He states in full, "A Dinner to Baez! Why not invite the murderer of the Virginius crew? At least please read an authentic...

GLC02095.18

[Quotation of Charles Sumner on the struggle to end slavery]

Complete quotation reads: "Our cause is nobler even than that of our Fathers, in as much as it is more exalted to struggle for the Freedom of others than for our own."

GLC02095.26

[Check signed by Charles Sumner]

Check for $51.17 payable to Mr. Beckwith Huntly from the First National Bank, Washington, D.C. Signed by Sumner. Endorsed on verso. With US inter-revenue stamp.

GLC02095.32

[Note declining Charles Sumner's attendance at Mr. Lincoln's circle]

Signed in text. Dated 6 January, no year specified. States that Sumner regrets not being able to attend "Mr. Lincoln's circle," to be held that evening, due to the state of his health.

GLC02095.09

to Epes Sargent

Sumner thanks Sargent for his sympathetic praise. Writes, "The verses on Shaw I had enjoyed before, & had sent to England," likely a reference to Sargent's poem, "Colonel Shaw: On Hearing that the Rebels Had Buried His Body Under a Pile of Twenty...

GLC02095.12

Mr. Sumner's Lecture on White Slavery in the Barbary States.

Sumner's lecture given before the Boston Mercantile Library Association, 17 February 1847. Published by William D. Ticknor and Company. Printed in Cambridge by Metcalf and Company, printers to the University. Inscribed on the original orange cover...

GLC02095.19

[Quotation of Charles Sumner on liberty]

Complete quotation reads: "For myself in a case of doubt I feel that I cannot go wrong when I lean to the side of Liberty."

GLC02095.25

[Envelope with free frank and docket]

Free frank of Sumner on envelope addressed to John Jay, [Nassau St] New York. With docket.

GLC02095.34

[Senate resolution submitted by Charles Sumner]

Appeals to the people to manifest their loyalty by ceasing to fight or work for the rebels, and putting their resources into supporting the Union. States that the government will reciprocate. Writes, "...it is the further duty of the government of...

GLC02095.22

The Crime Against Kansas. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts. In the Senate of the United States, May 19, 1856.

Sumner delivered this speech after the May 1856 debates on slavery in Kansas. Condemns Southern advocacy of the expansion of slavery. Published by Greeley and McElrath, New York. Advertised on cover page as being "for sale at the office of the New...

GLC02095.20

to [Arnold B.] Johnson

Written "to Johnson," possibly his secretary Arnold B. Johnson. Writes that he lost his pocketbook on the journey from Washington to Philadelphia and believes it was stolen. States that it contains a draft for $1800, and discusses the process by...

GLC02095.06

Protection of Freedmen: Actual Condition of the Rebel States. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts ...

Title continues, "... on the bill to maintain the freedom of the inhabitants in the states declared in insurrection and rebellion by the proclamation of the President of July 1, 1862; delivered in the Senate of the United States, December 20, 1865."...

GLC02095.23

to Theseus Apoleon Cheney

Writes that he is glad Cheney is regaining his health. Comments on the upcoming presidential election and the Civil War: "The good news must stimulate you. Of the result, political or military I cannot doubt. Mr. Lincoln will be re-elected, &...

GLC02095.14

Commonwealth. extra. [(August 26, 1852)]

Sumner's argument for the appeal of the Fugitive Slave Law was that the slaveholding southern states, and not the United States as a whole, condone the institution of slavery, and thus having a national law in which such an institution is aided and...

GLC02226

to Owen Lovejoy

Sumner, a United States Senator, writes to Lovejoy, a Representative from Illinois. Writes, "Here is Senate Bill 230, which you desired. We shall send you the Freedom Bill, & trust to your good votes & Providence." In a post script, notes that...

GLC02448.15

[Good Works!...]

A sentiment by Charles Sumner: "Good works! Such even now is the Heavenly ladder on which angels are ascending & descending while weary Humanity on pillows of stone slumbers heavily at its feet."

GLC05508.240

[They are men by the grace of God and this is enough.]

Sentiment by Sumner written in the Senate Chamber.

GLC05508.241

[to Mary Todd Lincoln]

Last three pages of a longer letter. Recipient inferred based on content. Senator Sumner, en route with Mrs. Lincoln to City Point to meet up with the president, responds to her note regarding Lincoln's return to Washington in the wake of Secretary...

GLC05603.01.03

[Draft of Sumner's article on "Domestic Relations" with regard to the Confederate states]

Sumner, a United States Senator and abolitionist, opens his lengthy article by stating "At this moment, our Domestic Relations all hinge upon one question; what shall be done with the rebel States?" Discusses abolition and human nature, quoting...

GLC00454

to Frederick Douglass

Dated "Thursday." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (who had a home in Nahant) informed Sumner that false words about Douglass had been attributed to Sumner. Sumner clarifies that he stated that whatever Douglass may think of the "Presidential indignity"...

GLC00470.02

Speeches by Charles Sumner [Decimalized 496.088.01-.02]

Two speeches by Sumner.

GLC00496.088

[Parsons address]

Refers to the "sepulchre of Human Rights" and Andrew Johnson's "whiteing." Discusses states rights in regard to the rebellion. Refers to the legislation of former enslavers. Draft copy, with excerpts and pages pasted in. Pages are misnumbered....

GLC00496.088.02

The landmark of freedom. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, against the repeal of the Missouri prohibition of slavery north of 36° 30'. In the Senate, February 21, 1854.

Printed by Buell & Blanchard. Senator Sumner declares, "As a lover of concord and a jealous partisan of all things that make for peace, I am always glad to express my attachment to the Union; but I believe that this bond will be most truly preserved...

GLC07202.04

to Robert Adams

Thanks Adams, possibly an underground railroad conductor, for the invitation to Independence Day events at Fall River, Massachusetts, but cannot make it. Sends his sentiments instead which he calls trite but necessary. "Defenders of the...

GLC07356.01

The barbarism of slavery. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, on the Bill for the admission of Kansas as a free state.

Disbound. Printed by Buell & Blanchard. Senator Sumner declares, "When last I entered into this debate, it became my duty to expose the Crime against Kansas, and to insist upon the immediate admission of that Territory as a State of this Union...

GLC08445.01

The barbarism of slavery. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, on the bill for the admission of Kansas as a free state. In the United State Senate, June 4, 1860.

Printed by Buell & Blanchard. Sumner calls the Missouri Compromise "the fatal partition between Freedom and Slavery." Uncut. Accompanied by address leaf cut from this pamphlet's original transmission wrapper (GLC08454.02). Edges are brittle and...

GLC08454.01

Freedom national; slavery sectional. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, ...

Title continues, " ... on his motion to repeal the fugitive slave bill, in the Senate of the United States, August 26, 1852." Printed by Buell and Blanchard. Untrimmed.

GLC08644

Full standing view of Senator from Mass.

Ink inscription on recto "Hon Chas Sumner." Graphite inscription on verso "**Book." Photographers imprint on verso: "Silsbeee, Case & Co. Photograph Artists, 299 1/2 Washington St. Boston." Photographers imprint on label on verso: "J.E. Tilton & Co...

GLC05111.02.0156