Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner

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Excerpt from Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner: Of Massachusetts, on His Motion to Repeal the Fugitive Slave Bill, In the Senate of the United States, August 26, 1852But, upon these I do not now enter. Suffice it, for the present, to say, that when I shall undertake that service, I believe I shall utter nothing which, in any just sense, can be called sectional, unless the Constitution is sectional, and unless the sentiments of the fathers were sectional. It is my happiness to believe, and my hope to be able to show, that, according to the true spirit of the Constitution, and according to the sentiments of the fathers, freedom, and not slavery, is national, while slavery, and not freedom, is sectional. In duty to the petitioners, and with the hope of promoting their prayer, I move the reference of their petition to the Committee on the Judiciary.A brief debate ensued, in which Messrs. Mangum, Badger, Hale, Clemens, Dawson, Adams, Butler, and Chase, took part, and, on motion of Mr. Badger, the Memorial was laid on the table.On Thursday, 27th July, the subject was again presented by Mr. Sumner to the Senate.Mr. Sumner. Mr. President, I have a Resolution which I desire to offer, and I wish, also, to give notice that I shall expect to call it up to-morrow, at an early moment in the morning hour, when I shall throw myself upon the indulgence of the Senate to be heard upon it.The Resolution was then read, as follows:Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be requested, to consider the expediency of reporting a bill for the immediate repeal of the Act of Congress, approved September 18, 1850, usually known as the Fugitive Slave Act.In pursuance of this notice, on the next day, during the morning hour, an attempt was made by Mr. Sumner to call it up.Mr. Sumner. Mr. President, I now ask permission of the Senate to take up the Resolution which I offered yesterday. For that purpose, I move that the prior orders be postponed, and upon this motion I desire to say a word. In asking the Senate to take up this Resolution for consideration, I say nothing now of its merits, nor of the arguments by which it may be maintained, nor do I at this stage anticipate any objections to it on these grounds. All this will properly belong to the discussion of the Resolution itself - the main question - when it is actually before the Senate. The single question now is, not the Resolution, but whether I shall be heard upon it.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.