English: Charles Sumner (
January 6,
1811 –
March 11,
1874) was an
American politician and statesman from
Massachusetts. An academic lawyer but a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the
Radical Republicans in the U.S. Senate during the
American Civil War and
Reconstruction along with
Thaddeus Stevens. He jumped from party to party, gaining fame as a
Republican. One of the most learned statesmen of the era, he specialized in foreign affairs, working closely with
Abraham Lincoln. He devoted his enormous energies to the destruction of what he considered the
Slave Power, that is the conspiracy of slave owners to seize control of the federal government and block the progress of liberty. His severe beating in 1856 by South Carolina Representative
Preston Brooks on the floor of the United States Senate helped escalate the tensions that led to war. After years of therapy Sumner returned to the Senate to help lead the Civil War. Sumner, who specialized in foreign affairs, was a leading exponent of abolishing slavery to weaken the Confederacy. Although he kept on good terms with
Abraham Lincoln, he was a leader of the hard-line
Radical Republicans.