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'''Charles Sumner''' (1811–1874) was a [[Republican party|Republican]] U.S. Senator from Massachusetts who sought to end slavery; he was the Senate leader of the [[Radical Republican]] faction during the [[American Civil War]] and [[Reconstruction]], where he fought to suppress Confederate nationalism and sought to promote the equality of the Freedmen (the freed slaves).  A founder of the [[Republican Party]], Sumner served Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate for 23 years. He broke with President [[Ulysses Grant]] in 1871 and supported the [[Liberal Republican Party]] in 1872; Grant retaliated by having the Senate strip away his powerful chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee.

|name=Charles Sumner

|party=[[Whig Party|Whig]] (1840 – 1848)<br>[[Free Soil party|Free Soil]] (1848 – 1854)<br>[[Republican]] (1854 – 1870)<br>[[Liberal Republican]] (1870 – 1872)<br>[[Republican]] (1872 – 1874)

|religion=[[Unitarian]]

|preceded=Robert Rantoul, Jr.

|succeeded=William B. Washburn

His strident stand against slavery and insulting language drove Congressman [[Preston Brooks]] of South Carolina to fly into a rage and violently beat Sumner with the head of his cane, as Sumner sat at his desk on the floor of the U.S. Senate.<ref>http://www.impeach-andrewjohnson.com/11BiographiesKeyIndividuals/CharlesSumner.htm</ref> Sumner did not recover for three more years, when he retook his seat on the Senate.<ref>http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASsumner.htm</ref>  The beating is the subject of a famous political cartoon by [[John Magee]] subtitled: ''Southern Chivalry: Argument vs Clubs?''

 

His strident stand against slavery and insulting language drove Congressman [[Preston Brooks]] of [[South Carolina]] to fly into a rage and violently beat Sumner with the head of his cane, as Sumner sat at his desk on the floor of the U.S. Senate.<ref>http://www.impeach-andrewjohnson.com/11BiographiesKeyIndividuals/CharlesSumner.htm</ref> Sumner did not recover for three more years, when he retook his seat on the Senate.<ref>http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASsumner.htm</ref>  The beating is the subject of a famous political cartoon by [[John Magee]] subtitled: ''Southern Chivalry: Argument vs Clubs?''

Sumner once declared:<ref>http://www.amerisearch.net/index.php?date=2004-03-11&view=View</ref>

Sumner once declared:<ref>http://www.amerisearch.net/index.php?date=2004-03-11&view=View</ref>

Sumner's conception of Christianity, however, was not orthodox. He was a [[Unitarian]] who denied the divinity of [[Jesus Christ]].<ref>https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=afroam_faculty_pubs</ref>

Sumner's conception of Christianity, however, was not orthodox. He was a [[Unitarian]] who denied the divinity of [[Jesus Christ]].<ref>https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=afroam_faculty_pubs</ref>

He helped create the short-lived Liberal Republican Party <ref>http://www.impeach-andrewjohnson.com/11BiographiesKeyIndividuals/CharlesSumner.htm</ref><ref>http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Sumner-C.html</ref>

He helped create the short-lived [[Liberal Republican Party]].<ref>http://www.impeach-andrewjohnson.com/11BiographiesKeyIndividuals/CharlesSumner.htm</ref><ref>http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Sumner-C.html</ref>

 

==See also==

==See also==

* [[Thaddeus Stevens]]

*[[Thaddeus Stevens]]

== References ==

 

==References==

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumner, Charles}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumner, Charles}}

[[Category:Former United States Senators]]

[[Category:Former United States Senators]]