Charles Sumner
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:
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
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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