Abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner Expresses “My ardent hope that all who hate slavery, and desire the overthrow of the slave oligarchy, will cordially unite…”

Fremont “will, at all hazards, throw the national shield over Kansas”, and will “join with us in dislodging” the slave power

Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was an abolitionist leader. As pro-slavery men poured into Kansas, on May 20, 1856, he gave a bitter speech in the Senate entitled the “Crime against Kansas”. He blasted the pro-slavery elements as "murderous robbers from Missouri," calling them "hirelings, picked from the drunken spew and vomit of an uneasy civilization." Part of this oratory was a bitter, personal tirade against South Carolina's Senator Andrew Butler. Sumner declared Butler an imbecile and said, "Senator Butler has chosen a mistress. I mean the harlot, slavery." During the speech, Stephen Douglas leaned over to a colleague and said, "that damn fool will get himself killed by some other damn fool." The speech went on for two days. Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina thought Sumner went too far. A distant cousin of Senator Butler, Brooks decided to teach Charles Sumner a lesson he would not soon forget. Two days after the end of Sumner's speech, Brooks entered the Senate chamber where Sumner was working at his desk. He flatly told Sumner, "You've libeled my state and slandered my white-haired old relative, Senator Butler, and I've come to punish you for it." Brooks proceeded to strike Sumner over the head repeatedly with a gold-tipped cane. The cane shattered as Brooks rained blow after blow on the hapless Sumner, but Brooks could not be stopped. Only after being physically restrained by others did Brooks end the pummeling. Though the wounds healed, Sumner’s brain sustained more damage than was initially thought, and it was another three years before he was able to resume his duties in the Senate. He became a martyr in the North and Brooks a hero in the South.

In this extraordinary letter, which reads much like his speech in the Senate, Sumner denounces the slave oligarchy and calls on all those who hate slavery to unite. He also mentions his disability, and shows frustration that it prevents him from taking in active role at such a crucial time. The letter also shows his generous support for Republican nominee John C. Fremont, despite what must have been his personal disappointment, as Sumner himself had for a time been a candidate for the nod.

Letter Signed, four pages, Washington, July 6, 1856, just six weeks before the incident, to journalist, abolitionist and social reformer David Lee Child of Wayland, Mass. “I have desired to write to you in acknowledgment of your good long letter, so instructive and able, but as often as I proposed to do it, I found my strength fail. I now write by the hand of another. This is the excuse for my seeming remissness. When I received your letter, I was confined to my room, unable to do more than to walk across the floor a few times in the day, seeing therefore only those who kindly visited me. I was unable on this account to confer with many persons on the important matters to which you called my attention, and now time has foreclosed one of the questions which you raised.

“Mr. Fremont has been nominated, and whatever may have been individual preferences before the nomination, it is my ardent hope that all who hate slavery, and desire the overthrow of the slave oligarchy will cordially unite in his support. I have had an opportunity since his nomination to know, through private friends, something of his convictions and determinations. He will, at all hazards, throw the national shield over Kansas. This is a good deal, but he will do more; he comprehends the true character of the slave oligarchy, and he will join with us in dislodging it from its present power. And when this is done, I need not say to you, all the rest will soon follow. I cherish the pride and gratitude, the sympathy, which you and your excellent wife so kindly express for me. At present, I am a useless member of society. How long this will last I cannot tell, but I hope for the best. Meanwhile, I long for my duties in the Senate, where if I should be well, I think I might say something which would help our cause at this hour. It is my greatest sorrow, beyond my wounds and debility, that I am obliged to let this opportunity pass.”

The Sumner-Brooks incident was a tremendous eye-opener for the American people, for it showed clearly the violence of the great sectional antagonism building up, and foreshadowed the Civil War.  Sumner remained in the Senate until his death in 1874, though he was often forced to curtail his activities because of the lingering effects of his beating.  We have only seen a few Sumner letters relating to his famous beating and recovery in all our years, and none written so close to the date of the incident.