Charles Sumner

Born in Boston on January 6, 1811, Charles Sumner trained as a lawyer and built a reputation as a gifted speaker and reform-minded public figure before entering national politics. He was elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts in 1851, where he quickly became known for his uncompromising opposition to slavery.

Sumner’s career was marked by both moral passion and personal danger. In 1856, after delivering a fiery antislavery speech, he was brutally attacked on the Senate floor by Representative Preston Brooks, an assault that made Sumner a national symbol for the conflict tearing the country apart. After a long recovery, he returned to the Senate and remained a leading voice for the Union cause.

During Reconstruction, he pushed strongly for civil rights and equal protection for formerly enslaved people, arguing that freedom had to include full citizenship. He served in the Senate until his death on March 11, 1874, and is remembered as one of the era’s most determined champions of abolition and racial equality.