Charles Sumner

Charles Sumner was born in Boston Massachusetts on January 6, 1811. He went to Boston Latin School. He graduated from Harvard University and taught in Harvard Law School. He lectured on constitutional and international law for three years. He became a Senator in Massachusetts. Politically, he was one of the founders of Free Soiler party after estsblishing the Whig party. Sumner was elected to the United States Senate as a Free Soiler reelected as a Republican in 1857, 1863, and 1869. He also served as a chairman until his death. In court, he edited a law review, the American Jurist, and served as a reporter for the United States Circuit Court. He was a traveler, always going to England. He had a year of residence there. Sumner became an advocate of education and prison reform. Most of all, he was totally against slavery. He was an activist against this movement so he was anti slavery. he had a speech debate against pro slavery groups in Kansas. He was probably well known for this debate because he was beaten unconsious by Preston Brooks beating him with a cane, for offending his cousin particularly. This made him stop attending te Congress for the next three years. When Sumner was beaten by a cane, this showed the Southern horrors in the north. However, Brooks became a hero in the South for defending the Southerners. Sumner not only defended slavery, but also racial remarks in Boston public schools in 1850. During the Civil War, Charles Sumner was very eager about the slaves to gain freedom. In the year of 1864, he also introduced the 13^th Amendment to the Senate. He nominated a black lawyer, John Rock, so that he could present himself before the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, he introduced the bill that established the Freedmen’s Bureau, and proposed a civil service reform bill in 1864. He was also part of the Reconstruction movement after the Civil War occurred. He supported the policies of the Radical Republicans and introduced the bill of Civil Rights Act of 1875.The Civil Rights Act of 1875 outlawed racial hatred in public places until the Supreme Court overturned the law in 1883. He was one of the few who proposed impeaching President Johnson’s Reconstruction policies because they weren’t successful.
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