Charles Sumner (1811-1874) born in Boston, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard in 1830. Editor of the American Jurist, Sumner lectured on constitutional and international law at Harvard . In 1837, he visited Europe, with a year of residence in England. Sumner denounced the use of war for settling disputes and promoted arbitration.That oration made him into a much sought-after speaker on public affairs. In 1848 he supported Martin Van Buren's candidacy for President. In 1851, the Massachusetts legislature chose Sumner to fill the vacated U.S. Senate seat of Daniel Webster. A leader of anti-slavery forces, he vehemently condemned the expansion of slavery and led the fight for racial integration of Boston public schools. During the Civil War, Sumner pushed for the emancipation of the slaves and introduced the 13^th Amendment to the Senate in 1864. He also nominated a black lawyer, John Rock, to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, introduced the bill that created the Freedmen''s Bureau, and proposed a civil service reform bill in 1864.

During Reconstruction, Sumner authored the Civil Rights Act of 1875,(overturned by the Supreme Court). He was a critic of President Johnson''s policies and supported his impeachment. On the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he backed American financial claims against Britain for providing the Confederacy with ships during the Civil War. His opposition to President Grant''s plan to annex Santo Domingo led to his removal as chair of the Committee in 1870. There after, he dissociated himself from the Republican party, supporting Horace Greeley, in 1872. He was nominated for governor of Massachusetts by a Liberal Republican-Democratic coalition, but declined the offer. Died in Washington, D. C.

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