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Charles Sumner's famous 'Crimes Against Kansas' speech on the Senate floor...
Charles Sumner's famous 'Crimes Against Kansas' speech on the Senate floor...
Item # 700061
May 21, 1856
(2-issue set) NEW YORK TRIBUNE, May 20 and 21, 1856 On May 19 and 20, 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Mass. delivered a powerful speech to the Senate in which he condemned Southerners and politicians who advocated the expansion of slavery into new territories, especially Kansas. It has become famous in history as the "Crimes Against Kansas" speech.
These two issues contain the majority of Sumner's lengthy speech, beginning on page 4 in the May 20 issue under: "Congress, First Session" and beginning: "Mr. Sumner then commenced speaking on Kansas affairs. He said: Mr. President; you are now called to redress a great transgression..." and continues over to page 5. The Tribune apologizes for an interruption in the printing of the speech with a sidebar: "The pressure upon our columns from every side compels us to pause here...He proceeds to review the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act...Being utterly unable to print the whole, we chose to follow Mr. Sumner on ground substantially untrodden, so we give complete the closing portion of his remarks to-day, being that which tears fully & conclusively...".
Following this note, the text of Sumner's speech continues: "It only remains under the head that I should speak of the Apology infamous...", continuing with the text until his conclusion that day, ending with: "...And here ends what I have to say of the four Apologies for Crime against Kansas. The Senate then adjourned."
The May 21 issue then continues with: "Mr. Sumner, resuming his speech begun yesterday, , proceeded as follows: From this ample survey, where one obstruction after another has a been removed, I now pass...to the consideration of the various remedies proposed ending with the True Remedy...". Much text follows, and again the Tribune injects a sidebar note beginning: "We deeply regret the necessity which compels us here to omit a considerable portion of Mr. Sumner's argument...Mr. S. continued: This, in that day, by such triumphant votes, did the cause of Kansas prevail..." and continues on through the end of his speech, it ending with: "...of Freedom crushed to earth; and in the name of the Heavenly Father, whose service is perfect Freedom, I make this last appeal."
What follows then is some reporting concerning others on the speech. And the May 21 issue has a nice editorial concerning it headed: "Mr. Sumner's Speech".
It is very rare to find so much of the text off this two-day speech in a period newspaper. Curiously, the Daily National Intelligencer, Washington, D.C., considered the "mouthpiece" of all that happens in Congress, did not print the text, opting to provide commentary concerning it.
Category: 1857-1860
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