Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 16 (of 20)

MR. PRESIDENT,--I wish to remind the Senator from Maryland of the exact words of the Constitution, which were not, it seems to me, in his mind when he spoke. An Amendment, when...

Are you ready for the revival of Slavery? I put this question plainly; for this is involved in the irreversibility of the Reconstruction Acts. Let these be overthrown or abandon...

If in this position there be much to excite wonder, there is still more for gratitude in the unparalleled opportunity it affords. What we all ask is opportunity. Here is opportu...

Not only to England must we go, but also to Parliamentary Law, as recognized in England at the adoption of the National Constitution. The powers of a presiding officer, where no...

The general object of the Tenure-of-Office Act was to protect civil officers from removal without the advice and consent of the Senate; and it was made in express terms applicab...

Look now at the actual facts, and you will see how little they come within the reason of an _ad interim_ appointment. Evidently the President had resolved to remove Mr. Stanton...

Indulge me still further while for a moment I allude to myself. The Republican State Convention has by formal resolution presented me for reëlection to the Senate, so that this...

Another help will be found in the simplification of our system of taxation, so that it shall be less complex and shall apply to fewer objects. In Europe taxation has become a sc...

From time to time International Copyright has occupied attention, and Mr. Sumner has often in correspondence expressed himself with regard to it. The following letter, in answer...

Nothing is more sensitive than Credit, which is the essential element of financial restoration. A breath will make it flutter. How can you expect to restore the national credit,...

I would not keep out of sight any consideration which seems in any quarter to throw light on this claim; and therefore I take time to mention an analogy which has been invoked....

There are other rules, which it is not too late to profit by. One relates to the burden of proof, and is calculated to have a practical bearing. Another relates to matters of wh...

Nothing is clearer than that this Moot-Court Apology is a wretched pretension and afterthought. It is the subterfuge of a criminal to cover up his crime,--as if a surgeon had co...

Another argument may be found in the extent to which reprisal on persons has been discarded by modern precedents. It is denounced, not only by authority, but also by practice. I...

Our best American lights are similar, beginning with the “Federalist” itself, which teaches that impeachment is for “those offences which proceed from _the misconduct of public...

Against the movement for contraction, which is commended by its simplicity and its tendency to a normal condition of things, we have two adverse policies,--one, the stand-still...

Then come what are called the Conspiracy Articles. Here also I am clear. Plainly there was an agreement between the President and Adjutant-General Thomas to obtain possession of...

“I know not that history records a sublimer act than this. The United American States, having just brought their perilous struggle for freedom and independence to a successful i...

Would you know the incalculable mischief of State pretensions? The American continent furnishes three different examples, each worthy of extended contemplation. There are, first...

1. By the Constitution it is provided that “the electors in each State shall have the _qualifications_ requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislatur...

He was followed in his high post by Talbot and Hardwicke, each with a peerage. Jumping the long period of their successful administrations, when the presiding officer was also a...

1. There is the National Flag. He must be cold indeed, who can look upon its folds rippling in the breeze without pride of country. If in a foreign land the flag is companionshi...

It is vain to say that these requirements are not expressly set down in the National Constitution. By a law existing before this title-deed, they belong to the essential conditi...

In this sudden transformation where was the sovereignty? It was declared that the _United_ Colonies are and _of right_ ought to be free and independent States. It was never decl...

THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT: WITHDRAWAL OF ASSENT BY A STATE. Remarks in the Senate, on the Resolutions of the Legislature of Ohio rescinding its former Resolution in Ratification...

In harmony with the promise of Nature is the promise of our fathers, recorded in the Declaration of Independence, to which the Republic has succeeded also. It is the twofold pro...