Author: SUMNER, Charles
Title: Autograph Letter Signed (Als)
Description: Boston, 19 October 1853. Letter. A witty one-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED by Sumner responding to an invitation to appear at the Horse Fair in Springfield. In part: "The age of Chivalry has passed. The age of Humanity has come. The Horse, which gave its name to the first, now yields to Man the foremost place. But your Fair shows that Man will not neglect his noble dependent. Pencil notations at the top and bottom; adhesive stain at the very left margin where the letter was once tipped in. A few small stains and creases from mailing. Very Good Senator Charles Sumner, perhaps the most influential man in public life after Lincoln at the end of the Civil War, was a notable advocate for emancipation of the slaves and later for civil rights. He was severely beaten on the floor of the United States Senate by Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina in retribution for Sumner's attack on Brooks's uncle, South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act in his "Crime against Kansas" [May 19 and 20, 1856] speech. The beating nearly killed Sumner and contributed significantly to the country's polarization over the issue of slavery. It has been considered symbolic of the "breakdown of reasoned discourse" and the use of violence that eventually led to the Civil War.

Keywords: Signed, American Politics, Autograph Letter, Charles Sumner, Civil War, Slavery, Horses Autographs Americana Signed Slavery


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