US Con Sumner, Charles - U.S. Senator, MA

Charles Sumner

Sumner.jpg
Born:
January 6, 1811

Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts

Father: Sheriff Charles Pinckney Sumner 1776 – 1839
(Buried: Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Mother: Relief Jacobs 1785 – 1866
(Buried: Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Wife: Alice Mason 1838 – 1913
(Buried: Northhall Cemetery, Markinch, Scotland)

Married: October 17, 1866, Marriage ended in Divorce

Signature:
Sumner Signature.png


Education:


1830: Graduated from Harvard University​
1833: Graduated from Harvard Law School​

Occupation before War:

Attorney in Boston, Massachusetts​
1836 – 1837: Lecturer at Harvard Law School​
1837 – 1840: Traveled in Europe​
1846: Declined Whig Nomination for United States Congressman​
1848: One of the founders of Free - Soil Political Party​
1848: Unsuccessful Candidate for United States Congressman​
1851 – 1874: United States Senator from Massachusetts​
1856: Denounced the Kansas – Nebraska Act​
1856: Delivered his “Crime against Kansas” Speech​
1856: Assaulted U.S. Senate Chamber by Congressman Preston Brooks​
1856 – 1859: Suffered from Head trauma caused by Brooks​
1860: Received 1 vote for the Republican Party Nomination​

Civil War Career:

1851 – 1874: United States Senator from Massachusetts​
1861 – 1871: Senate Chairman of Senate Foreign Affairs Committee​
Believed with emancipation it would keep Great Britain out of war​
Castigated Brig. General Charles P. Stone in a Senate Speech​
1862: Helped to get Haiti United States Recognition
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Advocate for enlisting African Americans in Union Army​
Advocate for the establishment of the Freedmen’s Bureau​
1865: Against a memorial for Chief Justice Roger B. Taney​

Occupation after War:

1851 – 1874: United States Senator from Massachusetts​
1861 – 1871: Senate Chairman of Senate Foreign Affairs Committee​
1871: Removed as Foreign Relation’s Chairman over disagreement with President Grant over policy of San Domingo​
1871 – 1873: Senate Chairman of Privileges and Elections​
1872: Joined the Liberal Republican Political Party​
1872: Introduced a Senate resolution providing that Civil War battle names should not appear as “battle honors” on regimental flags​

Died: March 11, 1874

Place of Death: Washington, D.C.

Cause of Death: Heart Attack

Age at time of Death: 63 years old

Funeral facts: His body lay in state at U.S. Capitol Rotunda

Burial Place: Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts
 
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After His beating from Brooks, Sumner remained absent from the Senate for about a 2 month period. During this time he was reelected to the Senate without even campaigning.
 
After His beating from Brooks, Sumner remained absent from the Senate for about a 2 month period. During this time he was reelected to the Senate without even campaigning.

His absence was much longer than 2 months.... The beating by Brooks occurred in May 1856 and Sumner did not return to duties in the Senate until late 1859. During his time off he traveled in Europe extensively.
 
His absence was much longer than 2 months.... The beating by Brooks occurred in May 1856 and Sumner did not return to duties in the Senate until late 1859. During his time off he traveled in Europe extensively.
Sorry, I meant over two years instead of almost two months. But the point was He reelected without campaigning. So it would seem Sumner was just as much a hero to Massachusetts as Brooks was to South Carolina.
 
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