Charles Sumner was a strong advocate for abolishing slavery and a true crusader of such issues. He was even attacked on the floor of the Senate in 1856 by Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina due to his strong issues. Of course Brooks was removed from Congress, but was re-voted in by South Carolina. One has to remember these were the days just before the Civil War. This attack helped to solidified the new Republican Party. Of course Brooks was a great hero to those pro slavery advocates from the south. The attack was quite bad and vicious, in fact in some ways he never totally recovered from it. But in the 3 years it took him to recover from the attacks he was never replaced in his office. As an empty chair was a very powerful weapon.
Here he sits with Longfellow.
The memorial book
This book came from the family of W. M. Carpenter who was in the Senate at the time.
It was a book that would honor the man who stood strongly when others did not, for the end of slavery in the United States.
You can learn more about this man on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sumner
Posts
