Author: Charles Sumner

Charles Sumner (1811–1874) was an American politician and statesman, primarily known for his powerful oratory, his commitment to abolitionism, and his tenure as a United States Senator from Massachusetts. A leading Radical Republican, Sumner devoted much of his career to fighting for civil rights and against slavery. His profound interest in antislavery issues extended to a broader concern for human rights, as exemplified in his work “White Slavery in the Barbary States” (1847), a detailed historical account of the enslavement of Europeans by North African pirates. In this treatise, Sumner denounces slavery in all forms, drawing parallels between the African slave trade and the abduction and enslavement of whites by Barbary corsairs. His distinctive literary style combines rigorous scholarship with a passionate appeal to moral sensibilities, reflecting his background as a lawyer and his conviction in the principles of freedom and human dignity. Sumner”s activism and dedication to abolitionism and racial equality were met with fierce opposition, which culminated in his being physically attacked on the Senate floor in 1856. Despite such adversity, his contributions to the anti-slavery movement and to the shaping of post-Civil War Reconstruction policies left an indelible mark on American politics and society.