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143-462: It was originally known as Parkersburg Colored School. The school was renamed for abolitionist U.S. senator Charles Sumner . Michael J. Rice wrote The Sumner 7: A History of Sumner High School . 39°16′07″N 81°33′12″W  /  39.2687°N 81.5533°W  / 39.2687; -81.5533 This West Virginia school-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This African American–related article

286-576: A Universalist , breaking from his Congregationalist upbringing. In late 1831, Greeley went to New York City to seek his fortune. There were many young printers in New York who had likewise come to the metropolis, and he could only find short-term work. In 1832, Greeley worked as an employee of the publication Spirit of the Times . He built his resources and set up a print shop in that year. In 1833, he tried his hand with Horatio D. Sheppard at editing

429-474: A "new morning Journal of Politics, Literature, and General Intelligence". New Yorkers were not initially receptive; the first week's receipts were $ 92 and expenses $ 525. The paper was sold for a cent a copy by newsboys who purchased bundles of papers at a discount. The price of advertising was initially four cents a line but was quickly raised to six cents. Through the 1840s, the Tribune was four pages, that is,

572-481: A Graham boarding house, became enthusiastic about other social movements that did not last and promoted them in his paper. He subscribed to the views of Charles Fourier , a French social thinker, then recently deceased, who proposed the establishment of settlements called "phalanxes" with a given number of people from various walks of life, who would function as a corporation and among whose members profits would be shared. Greeley, in addition to promoting Fourierism in

715-549: A barbarous community and a civilised community can constitute one state. I think we must get rid of slavery, or we must get rid of freedom." Conversely, Brooks was praised by Southern newspapers. The Richmond Enquirer editorialized that Sumner should be caned "every morning" and Southerners sent Brooks hundreds of new canes in endorsement of his assault. Southern lawmakers made rings out of the cane's remains, which they wore on neck chains to show solidarity with Brooks. Historian William Gienapp has concluded that Brooks's "assault

858-532: A bill that would have corrected the issue, but it was defeated. He was so disliked, he wrote a friend, that he had "divided the House into two parties—one that would like to see me extinguished and the other that wouldn't be satisfied without a hand in doing it." Other legislation introduced by Greeley, all of which failed, included attempts to end flogging in the Navy and to ban alcohol from its ships. He tried to change

1001-836: A boarding house run on the diet principles of Sylvester Graham , eschewing meat, alcohol, coffee, tea, and spices, as well as abstaining from the use of tobacco. Greeley was subscribing to Graham's principles at the time, and to the end of his life rarely ate meat. Mary Cheney, a schoolteacher, moved to North Carolina to take a teaching job in 1835. They were married in Warrenton, North Carolina , on July 5, 1836, and an announcement duly appeared in The New-Yorker eleven days later. Greeley had stopped over in Washington, D.C., on his way south to observe Congress. He took no honeymoon with his new wife, returning to work while his wife took up

1144-654: A campaign biography by an anonymous author for the first Republican presidential candidate, John C. Frémont . The Tribune continued to print a wide variety of material. In 1851, its managing editor, Charles A. Dana , recruited Karl Marx as a foreign correspondent in London. Marx collaborated with Friedrich Engels on his work for the Tribune , which continued for over a decade, covering 500 articles. Greeley felt compelled to print, "Mr. Marx has very decided opinions of his own, with some of which we are far from agreeing, but those who do not read his letters are neglecting one of

1287-511: A cannoneer ramming down cartridges", while Sumner himself said that "you might as well look for a joke in the Book of Revelation ." Following the annexation of Texas as a slave state in December, Sumner took an active role in the anti-slavery movement. In 1847, he denounced the declaration of war against Mexico with such vigor that he was recognized as a leader of the " Conscience " faction of

1430-630: A champion of civil rights for blacks. He co-authored the Civil Rights Act of 1875 with John Mercer Langston and introduced the bill in the Senate on May 13, 1870. The bill passed a year after his death, in February 1875, and President Grant signed it into law on March 1. It was the last civil rights legislation for 82 years until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 . The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1883 when it decided

1573-566: A daily newspaper, the New York Morning Post , which was not a success. Despite this failure and its attendant financial loss, Greeley published the thrice-weekly Constitutionalist , which mostly printed lottery results. On March 22, 1834, he published the first issue of The New-Yorker in partnership with Jonas Winchester. It was less expensive than other literary magazines of the time and published both contemporary ditties and political commentary. Circulation reached 9,000, then

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1716-624: A fierce defense of the American position in the dispute over the Maine-Canada boundary , circulated by Minister to France Lewis Cass . In 1840, at age 29, Sumner returned to Boston to practice law but devoted more time to lecturing at Harvard Law, editing court reports, and contributing to law journals, especially on historical and biographical themes. Sumner developed friendships with several prominent Bostonians, particularly Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , whose house he visited regularly in

1859-488: A group of cases known as the Civil Rights Cases . When Johnson was impeached , Sumner voted for conviction at his trial. He was only sorry that he had to vote on each article of impeachment, for as he said, he would have rather voted, "Guilty of all, and infinitely more." Throughout March 1867, Secretary William H. Seward and Russian representative Edouard de Stoeckl met in Washington, D.C., and negotiated

2002-770: A landslide despite having the additional support of the Democratic Party . He was devastated by the death of his wife five days before the election and died one month later, prior to the meeting of the Electoral College . Greeley was born on February 3, 1811, on a small farm about five miles from Amherst, New Hampshire . He could not breathe for the first twenty minutes of his life. It is suggested that this deprivation may have caused him to develop Asperger's syndrome —some of his biographers, such as Mitchell Snay, maintain that this condition would account for his eccentric behaviors in later life. His father's family

2145-667: A landslide. Greeley was born to a poor family in Amherst, New Hampshire . He was apprenticed to a printer in Vermont and went to New York City in 1831 to seek his fortune. He wrote for or edited several publications, involved himself in Whig Party politics, and took a significant part in William Henry Harrison 's successful 1840 presidential campaign. The following year, Greeley founded the Tribune , which became

2288-482: A large audience among whom I noticed two or three blacks, or rather mulattos—two-thirds black perhaps—dressed quite à la mode and having the easy, jaunty air of young men of fashion...." They were "well received" by the other students after the lecture. He continued: They were standing in the midst of a knot of young men and their color seemed to be no objection to them. I was glad to see this, though with American impressions, it seemed very strange. It must be then that

2431-730: A legislator. He was largely excluded from work on the Thirteenth Amendment , in part because he did not get along with Illinois Senator Lyman Trumbull , who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and did much of the work on it. Sumner introduced an alternative amendment that combined the Thirteenth Amendment with elements of the Fourteenth Amendment . It would have abolished slavery and declared that "all people are equal before

2574-477: A less radical candidate. The impasse was broken after three months and Sumner was elected on a parliamentary technicality by a one-vote majority on April 24, 1851, in part thanks to the support of Senate President Henry Wilson . His election marked a sharp break in Massachusetts politics, as his abolitionist politics contrasted sharply those of his best-known predecessor in the seat, Daniel Webster , one of

2717-647: A liberal faction of the Whigs in his newspaper, the Albany Evening Journal . He hired Greeley as editor of the state Whig newspaper for the upcoming campaign. The newspaper, the Jeffersonian , premiered in February 1838 and helped elect the Whig candidate for governor, William H. Seward . In 1839, Greeley worked for several journals, and took a month-long break to go as far west as Detroit. Greeley

2860-586: A living as a hired hand, Horace Greeley read everything he could—the Greeleys had a neighbor who let Horace use his library. In 1822, Horace ran away from home to become a printer's apprentice , but was told he was too young. In 1826, at age 15, Greeley was made a printer's apprentice to Amos Bliss, editor of the Northern Spectator , a newspaper in East Poultney, Vermont . There, he learned

3003-529: A loyalty requirement the following year; Sumner was strongly supportive. Sumner was a friend of Samuel Gridley Howe and a guiding force for the American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission , started in 1863. He was one of the most prominent advocates for suffrage for blacks, along with free homesteads and free public schools. His uncompromising attitude did not endear him to moderates, and his arrogance and inflexibility often inhibited his effectiveness as

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3146-563: A maniac may sometimes be dangerous, but the barking of a puppy never did any harm." Sumner's outspoken opposition to slavery made him few friends in the Senate. On May 19 and 20, 1856, during the civil unrest known as " Bleeding Kansas ," Sumner denounced the Kansas–Nebraska Act in his "Crime against Kansas" speech. The long speech argued for Kansas's immediate admission as a free state and denounced " Slave Power "—the political power of

3289-578: A member of various anti-slavery groups, leading to his election to the U.S. Senate in 1851 as a member of the Free Soil Party ; he soon became a founding member of the Republican Party . In the Senate, he devoted his efforts to opposing the " Slave Power ," which in 1856 culminated in a vicious beating , almost to the point of death, by Representative Preston Brooks on the Senate floor. Sumner's severe injuries and extended absence from

3432-639: A member to the American Philosophical Society . Horace Greeley Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and editor of the New-York Tribune . Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congressman from New York and was the unsuccessful candidate of the new Liberal Republican Party in the 1872 presidential election against incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant , who won by

3575-572: A new standard in American journalism by its combination of energy in newsgathering with good taste, high moral standards, and intellectual appeal. Police reports, scandals, dubious medical advertisements, and flippant personalities were barred from its pages; the editorials were vigorous but usually temperate; the political news was the most exact in the city; book reviews and book-extracts were numerous; and as an inveterate lecturer Greeley gave generous space to lectures. The paper appealed to substantial and thoughtful people. Greeley, who had met his wife at

3718-456: A newspaper, and the daily press came to dominate the weekly, which had once been the more common format for news periodicals. Greeley borrowed money from friends to get started, and published the first issue of the Tribune on April 10, 1841—the day of a memorial parade in New York for President Harrison, who had died after a month in office and been replaced by Vice President Tyler. In the first issue, Greeley promised that his newspaper would be

3861-624: A pledge of loyalty to our institutions; and where is the peril in such vows? They are peaceful and industrious; how can their citizenship be the occasion of solicitude?" He accused legislators promoting anti-Chinese legislation of betraying the principles of the Declaration of Independence : "Worse than any heathen or pagan abroad are those in our midst who are false to our institutions." Sumner's bill failed, and from 1870 to 1943, and in some cases as late as 1952, Chinese and other Asians were ineligible for naturalized U.S. citizenship. Sumner remained

4004-526: A profound impression. His platform presence was imposing. He stood 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall, with a massive frame. His voice was clear and powerful. His gestures were unconventional and individual, but vigorous and impressive. His literary style was florid, with much detail, allusion, and quotation, often from the Bible as well as the Greeks and Romans. Longfellow wrote that he delivered speeches "like

4147-721: A protégé of Joseph Story and an enthusiastic student of jurisprudence . After graduating in 1834, Sumner was admitted to the bar and entered private practice in Boston in partnership with George Stillman Hillard . A visit to Washington decided him against a political career, and he returned to Boston resolved to practice law. He contributed to the quarterly American Jurist and edited Story's court decisions as well as some law texts. From 1836 to 1837, Sumner lectured at Harvard Law School. In 1837, Sumner visited Europe with financial support from benefactors, including Story and Congressman Richard Fletcher . He landed at Le Havre and found

4290-489: A rally in Boston on November 3 in a letter to Anna Alcott: "Eight hundred gentlemen on horseback escorted him and formed a line up Beacon St. through which he rode smiling and bowing, he looked pale but otherwise as usual. The only time Sumner rose along the route was when he passed the Orphan Asylum and saw all the little blue aproned girls waving their hands to him. I thought it was very sweet in him to do that honor to

4433-491: A replacement. When he was attacked in print, Greeley responded in kind. He launched a campaign against corruption in the New York Legislature , hoping voters would defeat incumbents and the new legislators would elect him to the Senate when Seward's term expired in 1861. (Before 1913, senators were elected by state legislatures.) But his main activity during the campaign of 1860 was boosting Lincoln and denigrating

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4576-539: A seamstress before marrying Charles. Both of Sumner's parents were born in poverty and were described as exceedingly formal and undemonstrative. His father served as Clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1806 to 1807 and from 1810 to 1811, and he had a moderately successful legal practice. Throughout Sumner's childhood, his family teetered on the edge of the middle class. Charles Pinckney Sumner hated slavery and told his son that freeing

4719-403: A single sheet folded. It initially had 600 subscribers and 5,000 copies were sold of the first issue. In the early days, Greeley's chief assistant was Henry J. Raymond , who a decade later founded The New York Times . To place the Tribune on a sound financial footing, Greeley sold a half-interest in it to attorney Thomas McElrath (1807–1888), who became publisher of the Tribune (Greeley

4862-409: A sizable number, yet it was ill-managed and eventually fell victim to the economic Panic of 1837 . He also published the campaign newssheet of the new Whig Party in New York for the 1834 campaign, and came to believe in its positions, including free markets with government assistance in developing the nation. Soon after his move to New York City, Greeley met Mary Young Cheney . Both were living at

5005-542: A teaching job in New York City. One of the positions taken by The New-Yorker was that the unemployed of the cities should seek lives in the developing American West (in the 1830s, the West encompassed today's Midwestern states). The harsh winter of 1836–1837 and the financial crisis that developed soon after made many New Yorkers homeless and destitute. In his journal, Greeley urged new immigrants to buy guide books on

5148-679: A treaty for the annexation and sale of the Russian American territory of Alaska to the United States for $ 7,200,000. President Johnson submitted the treaty to Congress for ratification with Sumner's approval, and on April 9, his foreign relations committee approved and sent the treaty to the Senate. In a three-hour speech, Sumner spoke in favor of the treaty on the Senate floor, describing in detail Alaska's imperial history, natural resources, population, and climate. Sumner wanted to block British expansion from Canada, arguing that Alaska

5291-461: A two-hour interview with the Mormon leader Brigham Young —the first newspaper interview Young had given. Greeley encountered Native Americans and was sympathetic but, like many of his time, deemed Indian culture inferior. In California, he toured widely and gave many addresses. Although he remained on cordial terms with Senator Seward, Greeley never seriously considered supporting him in his bid for

5434-515: Is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save

5577-558: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811 – March 11, 1874) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War , he was a leading American advocate for the abolition of slavery . He chaired

5720-454: Is pinned to the residue by bayonets. Similar editorials appeared through January 1861, after which Tribune editorials took a hard line on the South, opposing concessions. Williams concludes that "for a brief moment, Horace Greeley had believed that peaceful secession might be a form of freedom preferable to civil war". This brief flirtation with disunion would have consequences for Greeley—it

5863-602: The Compromise of 1850 , which gave victories to both sides of the slavery issue, before finally opposing it. In the 1852 presidential campaign , he supported the Whig candidate, General Winfield Scott , but savaged the Whig platform for its support of the Compromise. "We defy it, execrate it, spit upon it." Such party divisions contributed to Scott's defeat by former New Hampshire senator Franklin Pierce . In 1853, with

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6006-460: The District of Columbia . Lincoln supposedly asked a Tribune correspondent, "What in the world is the matter with Uncle Horace? Why can't he restrain himself and wait a little while?" Greeley's prodding of Lincoln culminated in a letter to him on August 19, 1862, reprinted on the following day in the Tribune as "The Prayer of Twenty Millions". By this time, Lincoln had informed his Cabinet of

6149-628: The Fugitive Slave Act . Though both major party platforms affirmed every provision of the Compromise of 1850 as final, including the Fugitive Slave Act, Sumner called for its repeal. For more than three hours, he denounced it as a violation of the Constitution, an affront to the public conscience, and an offence against divine law . After his speech, a senator from Alabama urged that there be no reply: "The ravings of

6292-565: The Log Cabin widely. Harrison and his running mate John Tyler were easily elected. By the end of the 1840 campaign, the Log Cabin' s circulation had risen to 80,000 and Greeley decided to establish a daily newspaper, the New-York Tribune . At the time, New York had many newspapers, dominated by James Gordon Bennett 's New York Herald , which, with a circulation of about 55,000, had more readers than its combined competition. As technology advanced, it became cheaper and easier to publish

6435-640: The Massachusetts General Court abolished school segregation in 1855. In 1851, a coalition of Democratic and Free Soil legislators gained control of the Massachusetts General Court. In exchange for Free Soil support for Democratic governor George Boutwell , the Free Soil Party named Sumner its choice for U.S. Senate. Despite the private agreement, conservative Democrats opposed his candidacy and called for

6578-556: The Mexican–American War . Greeley opposed both the war and the expansion of slavery into the new territories seized from Mexico and feared Taylor would support expansion as president. Greeley considered endorsing former President Martin Van Buren , candidate of the Free Soil Party , but finally endorsed Taylor, who was elected; the editor was rewarded for his loyalty with the congressional term. Greeley vacillated on support for

6721-733: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1861 to 1871, until he lost the position following a dispute with President Ulysses S. Grant over the attempted annexation of Santo Domingo . After breaking with Grant, he joined the Liberal Republican Party , spending his final two years in the Senate alienated from his party. Sumner had a controversial and divisive legacy for many years after his death, but in recent decades, his historical reputation has improved in recognition of his early support for racial equality. Sumner began his political activism as

6864-476: The Tribune regretted the loss of the fort, but applauded the fact that war to subdue the rebels, who formed the Confederate States of America , would now take place. The paper criticized Lincoln for not being quick to use force. Through the spring and early summer of 1861, Greeley and the Tribune beat the drum for a Union attack. "On to Richmond", a phrase coined by a Tribune stringer , became

7007-498: The Tribune was urging in its editorials. This was a change in Greeley's thinking which began after First Manassas, a shift from preservation of the Union being the primary war purpose to wanting the war to end slavery. By March, the only action against slavery that Lincoln had backed was a proposal for compensated emancipation in the border states that had remained loyal to the Union, though he signed legislation abolishing slavery in

7150-419: The Tribune , for which she wrote over 200 articles. She lived with the Greeley family for several years, and when she moved to Italy, he made her a foreign correspondent. He promoted the work of Henry David Thoreau , serving as literary agent and seeing to it that Thoreau's work was published. Ralph Waldo Emerson also benefited from Greeley's promotion. Historian Allan Nevins explained: The Tribune set

7293-588: The Tribune , was associated with two such settlements, both of which eventually failed, though the town that eventually developed on the site of the one in Pennsylvania was after his death renamed Greeley . In November 1848, Congressman David S. Jackson , a Democrat, of New York's 6th district was unseated for election fraud. Jackson's term was to expire in March 1849 but, during the 19th century, Congress convened annually in December, making it important to fill

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7436-475: The Tribune . Lincoln eagerly accepted, "having him firmly behind me will be as helpful to me as an army of one hundred thousand men." By early 1862, however, Greeley was again sometimes critical of the administration, frustrated by the failure to win decisive military victories, and perturbed at the president's slowness to commit to the emancipation of the slaves once the Confederacy was defeated, something

7579-521: The United Kingdom . He easily won the November election and took his seat when Congress convened in December 1848. Greeley's selection was procured by the influence of his ally, Thurlow Weed . As a congressman for three months, Greeley introduced legislation for a homestead act that would allow settlers who improved land to purchase it at low rates—a fourth of what speculators would pay. He

7722-541: The cathedral at Rouen striking: "The great lion of the north of France … transcending all that my imagination had pictured." He reached Paris in December, studied French , and visited the Louvre . He mastered French within six months and attended lectures at the Sorbonne on subjects ranging from geology to Greek history to criminal law. In his journal for January 20, 1838, Sumner noted that one lecturer "had quite

7865-758: The dark horse candidates for the Republican nomination, Abraham Lincoln, came to New York to give an address at Cooper Union , Greeley urged his readers to go hear Lincoln, and was among those who accompanied him to the platform. Greeley thought of Lincoln as a possible nominee for vice president. Greeley attended the convention as a substitute for Oregon delegate Leander Holmes, who was unable to attend. In Chicago, he promoted Bates but deemed his cause hopeless and felt that Seward would be nominated. In conversations with other delegates, he predicted that, if nominated, Seward could not carry crucial battleground states such as Pennsylvania. Greeley's estrangement from Seward

8008-421: The 1840s. Longfellow's daughters found his stateliness amusing; he would ceremoniously open doors for the children while saying " In presequas " ("after you") in a sonorous tone. Sumner embarked on a public political career in 1845, when he emerged as one of the most prominent critics of slavery in the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts, a hotbed of abolitionist sentiment. On July 4, Sumner delivered

8151-516: The Boston Independence Day oration, The True Grandeur of Nations . His speech was critical of the move toward war with Mexico and an impassioned appeal for freedom and peace. Sumner considered the conflict a war of aggression but was primarily concerned that captured territories would expand slavery westward. He soon became a sought-after orator for formal occasions throughout Boston. His lofty themes and stately eloquence made

8294-671: The Committee on Foreign Relations in March 1861. As chair, he renewed his efforts for diplomatic recognition of Haiti . Haiti had sought recognition since winning independence in 1804 but faced opposition from Southern senators. In their absence, the United States recognized Haiti in 1862. On November 8, 1861, the Union Navy warship USS  San Jacinto intercepted the British steamer RMS  Trent . Two Confederate diplomats aboard were placed into port custody. In response to

8437-479: The Cotton States shall become satisfied that they can do better out of the Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in peace. The right to secede may be a revolutionary one, but it exists nevertheless.... And whenever a considerable section of our Union shall deliberately resolve to go out, we shall resist all coercive measures designed to keep it in. We hope never to live in a republic whereof one section

8580-588: The Emancipation Proclamation as a "great boon of Freedom". According to Williams, "Lincoln's war for Union was now also Greeley's war for emancipation." After the Union victory at Gettysburg in early July 1863, the Tribune wrote that the rebellion would be quickly "stamped out". A week after the battle, the New York City draft riots erupted. Greeley and the Tribune were generally supportive of conscription , though feeling that

8723-551: The Foreign Relations Committee, Sumner worked to ensure that the United Kingdom and France did not intervene on behalf of the Confederate States . After the Union won the war and Lincoln was assassinated, Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens led congressional efforts to grant equal civil and voting rights to freedmen and to block ex-Confederates from power so they would not reverse the gains derived from

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8866-685: The French minister to Washington, Henri Mercier , to discuss a mediated settlement. However, Seward rejected such talks, and the prospect of European intervention receded after the bloody Union victory at Antietam in September 1862. In July 1864, Greeley received word that there were Confederate commissioners in Canada, empowered to offer peace. In fact, the men were in Niagara Falls , Canada, in order to aid Peace Democrats and otherwise undermine

9009-570: The Lincoln administration from embarrassment. On December 25, 1861, at Lincoln's invitation, Sumner addressed the cabinet. He read letters from prominent British political figures, including Richard Cobden , John Bright , William Ewart Gladstone , and the Duke of Argyll as evidence that political sentiment in Britain supported the envoys' return to the British. Lincoln quietly but reluctantly ordered

9152-532: The Massachusetts Whig Party . He declined the Whig nomination for the United States House of Representatives in 1848, instead helping organize the Free Soil Party and becoming chairman of the state party's executive committee, a position he used to advocate for abolition and build a coalition that included anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats. Sumner also took an active role in other social causes. He worked with Horace Mann to improve Massachusetts's system of public education, advocated prison reform , and represented

9295-430: The National Government. Sumner verbally attacked authors of the Act, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of South Carolina: The senator from South Carolina has read many books of chivalry, and believes himself a chivalrous knight with sentiments of honor and courage. Of course he has chosen a mistress to whom he has made his vows, and who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in

9438-452: The Radicals passed two Confiscation Acts in 1861 and 1862 that allowed the military to emancipate confiscated slaves whom the Confederate military had impressed into service. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation , abolishing slavery in all Confederate territory. The Thirteenth Amendment subsequently abolished the practice of chattel slavery. After the withdrawal of Southern senators, Sumner became chair of

9581-434: The Republican nomination for president. Instead, during the run-up to the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago, he pressed the candidacy of former Missouri representative Edward Bates , an opponent of the spread of slavery who had freed his own slaves. In his newspaper, in speeches, and in conversation, Greeley pushed Bates as a man who could win the North and even make inroads in the South. Nevertheless, when one of

9724-401: The Senate chamber and beat him severely on the head, using a thick gutta-percha cane with a gold head. Sumner was knocked down and trapped under the heavy desk, which was bolted to the floor. Blinded by his own blood, he staggered up the aisle and collapsed into unconsciousness. Brooks continued to beat the motionless Sumner until his cane broke, at which point he continued to strike Sumner with

9867-493: The Senate chamber served as a powerful symbol of free speech and resistance to slavery. When Sumner returned to the Senate in 1857, he was unable to last a day. His doctors advised a sea voyage and "a complete separation from the cares and responsibilities that must beset him at home." He sailed for Europe and immediately found relief. During two months in Paris in the spring of 1857, he renewed friendships, especially with Thomas Gold Appleton , dined out frequently, and attended

10010-419: The Senate included Zachariah Chandler and Benjamin Wade . After the fall of Fort Sumter in April 1861, Sumner, Chandler and Wade repeatedly visited President Abraham Lincoln at the White House to discuss slavery and the rebellion. Gilbert Osofsky argues that Sumner saw the war as a "death struggle" between " two mutually contradictory civilizations ," and his solution was "to 'civilize' and 'Americanize'

10153-421: The Senate made him a symbol of the anti-slavery cause. Though he did not return to the Senate until 1859, Massachusetts reelected him in 1857 , leaving his empty desk as a reminder of the incident, which polarized the nation as the Civil War approached. During the war, Sumner led the Radical Republican faction, which was critical of President Abraham Lincoln for being too moderate toward the South. As chair of

10296-441: The Senate permanently. Though fellow Republicans advised a less strident tone, he answered: "When crime and criminals are thrust before us, they are to be met by all the energies that God has given us by argument, scorn, sarcasm and denunciation." He delivered his first return speech, "The Barbarism of Slavery," on June 4, 1860. He attacked attempts to depict slavery as a benevolent institution , said it stifled economic development in

10439-450: The Senate. Weed wanted William M. Evarts elected in his place, while the anti-Seward forces in New York gathered around Greeley. The crucial battleground was the Republican caucus, as the party held the majority in the legislature. Greeley's forces did not have enough votes to send him to the Senate, but they had enough strength to block Evarts's candidacy. Weed threw his support to Ira Harris , who had already received several votes, and who

10582-645: The South" by conquest, then forcibly mold it into a society defined in Northern terms, as an idealized version of New England . Throughout the war, Sumner had been the special champion of black Americans, being the most vigorous advocate of emancipation, of enlisting blacks in the Union Army, and of the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau . The Radicals desired the immediate emancipation of slaves and persistently lobbied for it as wartime policy, but Lincoln

10725-487: The South, and that it left slaveholders reliant on "the bludgeon, the revolver, and the bowie-knife". He addressed an anticipated objection on the part of one of his colleagues: "Say, sir, in your madness, that you own the sun, the stars, the moon; but do not say that you own a man, endowed with a soul that shall live immortal, when sun and moon and stars have passed away." Even allies found his language too strong, one calling it "harsh, vindictive, and slightly brutal". He spent

10868-542: The Union government's primary objective was to end it. Sumner argued that Lincoln could command the Union Army to emancipate slaves under color of martial law . In the conservative press, Sumner's speech was denounced as incendiary . Conservative Massachusetts newspapers editorialized that he was mentally ill and a "candidate for the insane asylum," but the Radicals fully endorsed Sumner's speech, and he continued to advance his argument publicly. As an intermediate measure,

11011-559: The Union's victory in the war. President Andrew Johnson 's persistent opposition to these efforts played a role in his impeachment in 1868. During the Grant administration, Sumner fell out of favor with his party. He supported the annexation of Alaska but opposed Grant's proposal to annex Santo Domingo . After leading senators to defeat the Santo Domingo Treaty in 1870, Sumner denounced him in such terms that reconciliation

11154-401: The Union." Lincoln's statement angered abolitionists; William Seward's wife Frances complained to her husband that Lincoln had made it seem "that the mere keeping together a number of states is more important than human freedom." Greeley felt Lincoln had not truly answered him, "but I'll forgive him everything if he'll issue the proclamation". When Lincoln did, on September 22, Greeley hailed

11297-603: The West, and Congress to make public lands available for purchase at cheap rates to settlers. He told his readers, "Fly, scatter through the country, go to the Great West, anything rather than remain here ... the West is the true destination." In 1838, he advised "any young man" about to start in the world, "Go to the West: there your capabilities are sure to be appreciated and your energy and industry rewarded." In 1838, Greeley met Albany editor Thurlow Weed . Weed spoke for

11440-518: The best talent that he could find. Greeley's alliance with William H. Seward and Thurlow Weed led to his serving three months in the U.S. House of Representatives , where he angered many by investigating Congress in his newspaper. In 1854, he helped found the Republican Party . Republican newspapers across the nation regularly reprinted his editorials. During the Civil War , he mostly supported President Abraham Lincoln but urged him to commit to

11583-413: The bill to be argued in the federal courts. The bill failed, but Sumner revived it in the next Congress, and on his deathbed begged visitors to see that it did not fail. Sumner repeatedly tried to remove the word "white" from naturalization laws. He introduced bills to that effect in 1868 and 1869, but neither came to a vote. On July 2, 1870, Sumner moved to amend a pending bill in a way that would strike

11726-575: The captives' release to British custody and apologized. After the Trent affair, Sumner's reputation improved among conservative Northerners. As one of the Radical Republican leaders in the post-war Senate, Sumner fought to provide equal civil and voting rights for freedmen on the grounds that "consent of the governed" was a basic principle of American republicanism . Sumner's radical legal theory of Reconstruction proposed that nothing beyond

11869-571: The capture, the British government dispatched 8,000 troops to the Canada–United States border and sought to strengthen the Royal Navy . Secretary of State William Seward believed the diplomats were contraband of war, but Sumner argued the men did not qualify as such because they were unarmed. He favored their release along with an apology from the U.S. government towards Britain. In the Senate, Sumner suppressed open debate in order to save

12012-579: The confines of the Constitution, read in light of the Declaration of Independence, restricted Congress's treatment of the rebelling states. Though not as radical as Thaddeus Stevens , who considered the Confederate states "conquered provinces," Sumner argued that by declaring secession , the state governments had committed felo de se (state suicide) and could be regulated as territories that should be prepared for statehood, under conditions set by

12155-847: The control of Congress. By federal law, Native Alaskan tribes, including the Inuit , the Aleut , and the Athabascan , were entitled only to land that they inhabited. According to treaty, native Alaskan tribes were excluded from U.S. citizenship, but citizenship was available to Russian residents. Creoles , persons of Russian and Indian descent, were considered Russian. Sumner said the new territory should be called by its Aleutian name, Alaska , meaning "great land." He advocated for free public education and equal protection laws for U.S. citizens in Alaska. Personal achievements in 1867 included his election as

12298-430: The curtain, and then with a few dozen more cheers the crowd dispersed. I was so excited I pitched about like a mad woman, shouted, waved, hung onto fences, rushed thro crowds, and swarmed about in a state of rapterous insanity till it was all over and then I went home hoarse and worn out." More than a million copies of Sumner's "Crime against Kansas" speech were distributed. Ralph Waldo Emerson remarked, "I do not see how

12441-749: The distance between free blacks and whites among us is derived from education, and does not exist in the nature of things. Sumner decided that Americans' predisposition to see blacks as inferior was a learned viewpoint, and he determined to become an abolitionist upon returning to America. Over the next three years, Sumner became fluent in Spanish , German , and Italian , and met with many leading European statesmen. In 1838, he visited Britain, where Lord Brougham declared that he "had never met with any man of Sumner's age of such extensive legal knowledge and natural legal intellect". Though he often praised British society as more refined than American, Sumner published

12584-520: The end of slavery before Lincoln was willing to do so. After Lincoln's assassination , he supported the Radical Republicans in opposition to President Andrew Johnson . He broke with the Radicals and with Republican President Ulysses Grant because of the party's corruption and Greeley's view that Reconstruction-era policies were no longer needed. Greeley was the new Liberal Republican Party 's presidential nominee in 1872 . He lost in

12727-490: The end of the 1840s, Greeley's Tribune was not only solidly established in New York as a daily paper, it was highly influential nationally through its weekly edition, which circulated in rural areas and small towns. Journalist Bayard Taylor deemed its influence in the Midwest second only to that of the Bible. According to Williams, the Tribune could mold public opinion through Greeley's editorials more effectively than could

12870-515: The farm he had purchased in Chappaqua, Greeley returned to the Tribune and a policy of general backing of the Lincoln administration, even having kind words to say about Secretary Seward, his old foe. He was supportive even during the military defeats of the first year of the war. Late in 1861, he proposed to Lincoln through an intermediary that the president provide him with advance information as to its policies, in exchange for friendly coverage in

13013-440: The fatherless and motherless children. A little child was carried out to give him a great bouquet, which he took and kissed the baby bearer. The streets were lined with wreaths, flags, and loving people to welcome the good man back....and tho I was only a 'love lorn' governess I waved my cotton handkerchief like a meek banner to my hero with honorable wounds on his head and love of little children in his heart. Hurra!! I could not hear

13156-400: The first New York state Republican Convention in 1854 and was disappointed not to be nominated either for governor or lieutenant governor. The switch in parties coincided with the end of two of his longtime political alliances: in December 1854, Greeley wrote that the political partnership between Weed, William Seward (who was by then senator after serving as governor) and himself was ended "by

13299-407: The foremost supporters of the Compromise of 1850 and its Fugitive Slave Act . For the first few sessions, Sumner did not promote any of his controversial causes. On August 26, 1852, he delivered his maiden speech , despite strenuous efforts to dissuade him. This oratorical effort incorporated a popular abolitionist motto, "Freedom National; Slavery Sectional," as its title. In it, Sumner attacked

13442-465: The free states with their tentacular grip and gradually siphoning off the breath of democracy-loving citizens." In addition to head trauma , Sumner suffered "psychic wounds," now understood to be post-traumatic stress disorder . When he spent months convalescing, his political enemies ridiculed him and accused him of cowardice for not resuming his duties. The Massachusetts General Court reelected him in November 1856, believing that his vacant chair in

13585-732: The free-labor ideology of the Whigs and the radical wing of the Republican Party, especially in promoting the free-labor ideology. Before 1848 he sponsored an American version of Fourierist socialist reform. but backed away after the failed revolutions of 1848 in Europe. To promote multiple reforms Greeley hired a roster of writers who later became famous in their own right, including Margaret Fuller , Charles A. Dana, George William Curtis , William Henry Fry , Bayard Taylor , Julius Chambers , and Henry Jarvis Raymond , who later co-founded The New York Times . For many years George Ripley

13728-513: The highest-circulating newspaper in the country through weekly editions sent by mail. Among many other issues, he urged the settlement of the American Old West , which he saw as a land of opportunity for the young and the unemployed. He popularized the slogan " Go West, young man, and grow up with the country ." He endlessly promoted radical reforms such as socialism , vegetarianism , agrarianism , feminism , and temperance and hired

13871-406: The law." During Reconstruction, he often attacked civil rights legislation as inadequate and fought for legislation to give land to freed slaves and to mandate education for all, regardless of race, in the South. He viewed segregation and slavery as two sides of the same coin. He introduced a civil rights bill in 1872 to mandate equal accommodation in all public places and required suits brought under

14014-542: The legislation in his newspaper. After it passed, and the Border War broke out in Kansas Territory , Greeley was part of efforts to send free-state settlers there, and to arm them. In return, proponents of slavery recognized Greeley and the Tribune as adversaries, stopping shipments of the paper to the South and harassing local agents. Nevertheless, by 1858, the Tribune reached 300,000 subscribers through

14157-534: The mechanics of a printer's job, and acquired a reputation as the town encyclopedia, reading his way through the local library. When the paper closed in 1830, the young man went west to join his family, living near Erie, Pennsylvania . He remained there only briefly, going from town to town seeking newspaper employment, and was hired by the Erie Gazette . Although ambitious for greater things, he remained until 1831 to help support his father. While there, he became

14300-569: The most instructive sources of information on the great questions of current European politics." Greeley sponsored a host of reforms, including pacifism and feminism and especially the ideal of the hard-working free laborer. Greeley demanded reforms to make all citizens free and equal. He envisioned virtuous citizens who would eradicate corruption. He talked endlessly about progress, improvement, and freedom, while calling for harmony between labor and capital. Greeley's editorials promoted social democratic reforms and were widely reprinted. They influenced

14443-496: The name of the United States to "Columbia", abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and increase tariffs. One lasting effect of the term of Congressman Greeley was his friendship with a fellow Whig, serving his only term in the House, Illinois's Abraham Lincoln . Greeley's term ended after March 3, 1849, and he returned to New York and the Tribune , having, according to Williams, "failed to achieve much except notoriety". By

14586-402: The national government. Sumner emerged as an idealist and a champion for civil rights through this turbulent and controversial period. He joined fellow Republicans in overriding President Andrew Johnson 's vetoes, though his most radical ideas were not implemented. Sumner favored partial male suffrage with a literacy requirement for all Southerners in order to vote. Instead, Congress imposed

14729-520: The opera. His contacts there included Alexis de Tocqueville , poet Alphonse de Lamartine , former French Prime Minister François Guizot , Ivan Turgenev , and Harriet Beecher Stowe . Sumner toured several countries, including Prussia and Scotland , before returning to Washington, where he spent only a few days in the Senate in December. Both then and during several later attempts to return to work, he found himself exhausted just listening to Senate business. He sailed once more for Europe on May 22, 1858,

14872-417: The other presidential candidates. He made it clear that a Republican administration would not interfere with slavery where it already was and denied that Lincoln was in favor of voting rights for African Americans. He kept up the pressure until Lincoln was elected in November. Lincoln soon let it be known that Seward would be Secretary of State , which meant that he would not be a candidate for re-election to

15015-853: The party increasingly divided over the slavery issue, Greeley printed an editorial disclaiming the paper's identity as Whig and declaring it to be nonpartisan. He was confident that the paper would not suffer financially, trusting in reader loyalty. Some in the party were not sorry to see him go: the Republic , a Whig organ, mocked Greeley and his beliefs: "If a party is to be built up and maintained on Fourierism , Mesmerism , Maine Liquor laws , Spiritual Rappings , Kossuthism , Socialism , Abolitionism , and forty other isms , we have no disposition to mix with any such companions." When, in 1854, Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas introduced his Kansas–Nebraska Bill , allowing residents of each territory to decide whether it would be slave or free, Greeley strongly fought

15158-589: The plaintiffs in Roberts v. City of Boston , which challenged the legality of racial segregation in public schools. Arguing before the Massachusetts Supreme Court , Sumner noted that schools for blacks were physically inferior and that segregation bred harmful psychological and sociological effects—arguments made in Brown v. Board of Education over a century later. Sumner lost the case, but

15301-519: The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation he had composed, and Greeley was told of it the same day the prayer was printed. In his letter, Greeley demanded action on emancipation and strict enforcement of the Confiscation Acts . Lincoln must "fight slavery with liberty", and not fight "wolves with the devices of a sheep." Lincoln's reply would become famous, much more so than the prayer that provoked it. "My paramount object in this struggle

15444-400: The president. Greeley sharpened those skills over time, laying down what future Secretary of State John Hay , who worked for the Tribune in the 1870s, deemed the "Gospel according to St. Horace". The Tribune remained a Whig paper, but Greeley took an independent course. In 1848 , he had been slow to endorse the Whig presidential nominee, General Zachary Taylor , a Louisianan and hero of

15587-453: The remaining piece. Several other senators attempted to help Sumner, but were blocked by Laurence Keitt , who brandished a pistol and shouted, "Let them be!" The episode became a symbol of polarization in the antebellum period; Sumner became a martyr in the North and Brooks a hero in the South. Thousands attended rallies in support of Sumner throughout the North. Louisa May Alcott described

15730-561: The rich should not be allowed to evade it by hiring substitutes. Support for the draft made them targets of the mob, and the Tribune Building was surrounded, and at least once invaded. Greeley secured arms from the Brooklyn Navy Yard , and 150 soldiers kept the building secure. Mary Greeley and her children were at the farm in Chappaqua; a mob threatened them but dispersed without doing harm. In August 1863, Greeley

15873-479: The seat. Under the laws then in force, the Whig committee from the Sixth District chose Greeley to run in the special election for the remainder of the term, though they did not select him as their candidate for the seat in the following Congress. The Sixth District, or Sixth Ward as it was commonly called, was mostly Irish-American, and Greeley proclaimed his support for Irish efforts towards independence from

16016-755: The second anniversary of Brooks's attack. In Paris, prominent physician Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard diagnosed Sumner's condition as spinal cord damage that he could treat by burning the skin along the spinal cord. Sumner chose to refuse anaesthesia, which was thought to reduce the effectiveness of the procedure. Observers both at the time and since doubted Brown-Séquard's efforts were of value. After spending weeks recovering from these treatments, Sumner resumed his touring, this time as far east as Dresden and Prague and south to Italy twice. In France he visited Brittany and Normandy, as well as Montpellier. He wrote his brother: "If anyone cares to know how I am doing, you can say better and better." In 1859, Sumner returned to

16159-463: The sight of the world, is chaste in his sight—I mean the harlot, slavery. For her his tongue is always profuse in words. Let her be impeached in character, or any proposition made to shut her out from the extension of her wantonness, and no extravagance of manner or hardihood of assertion is then too great for this senator. Two days later, on the afternoon of May 22, Representative Preston Brooks , Butler's first cousin once removed, confronted Sumner in

16302-475: The slave owners. Their motivation, he alleged, was to spread slavery even to free territories: Not in any common lust for power did this uncommon tragedy have its origin. It is the rape of a virgin Territory, compelling it to the hateful embrace of slavery; and it may be clearly traced to a depraved desire for a new Slave State, hideous offspring of such a crime, in the hope of adding to the power of slavery in

16445-518: The slaves would "do us no good" unless society treated them equally. He was a close associate of Unitarian leader William Ellery Channing . Expanding on Channing's argument that human beings had infinite potential to improve themselves, Sumner concluded that environment had "an important, if not controlling influence" in shaping people. Thus, if society gave precedence to "knowledge, virtue and religion", then "the most forlorn shall grow into forms of unimagined strength and beauty." Moral law, he believed,

16588-460: The speeches at the State House so I tore down Hancock St. and got a place opposite his house. I saw him go in, and soon after the cheers of the horsemen and crowd brought him smiling to the window, he only bowed, but when the leader of the cavelcade cried out 'Three cheers for the mother of Charles Sumner!' he stepped back and soon appeared leading an old lady who nodded, waved her hand, put down

16731-531: The summer rallying the anti-slavery forces for the election of 1860 and opposing talk of compromise. After the Civil War began, Sumner was among the Radical Republicans who advocated immediate abolition of slavery and the destruction of the Southern planter class. Although like-minded on slavery, the Radicals were loosely organized and disagreed on issues such as the tariff and currency. Other Radicals in

16874-556: The war's primary objective. He believed that military necessity would eventually force Lincoln's hand and that emancipation would give the Union higher moral standing, which would keep Britain from entering the Civil War on the Confederacy's side. In October 1861, at the Massachusetts Republican Convention in Worcester, Sumner openly expressed his belief that slavery was the war's sole cause and that

17017-580: The watchword of the newspaper as Greeley urged the occupation of the rebel capital of Richmond before the Confederate Congress could meet on July 20. In part because of the public pressure, in mid July Lincoln sent the half-trained Union Army into the field at the First Battle of Bull Run , where it was soundly beaten. The defeat threw Greeley into despair, and he may have suffered a nervous breakdown. Restored to health by two weeks at

17160-501: The weekly edition, and it would continue as the foremost American newspaper through the years of the Civil War . The Kansas–Nebraska Act helped destroy the Whig Party, but a new party with opposition to the spread of slavery at its heart had been under discussion for some years. Beginning in 1853, Greeley participated in the discussions that led to the founding of the Republican Party and may have coined its name. Greeley attended

17303-410: The withdrawal of the junior partner". Greeley was angered over patronage disputes and felt that Seward was courting the rival The New York Times for support. In 1853, Greeley purchased a farm in rural Chappaqua, New York , where he experimented with farming techniques. In 1856, he designed and built Rehoboth , one of the first concrete structures in the United States. In 1856, Greeley published

17446-493: The word "white" wherever in all Congressional acts pertaining to naturalization of immigrants. On July 4, 1870, he said: "Senators undertake to disturb us … by reminding us of the possibility of large numbers swarming from China; but the answer to all this is very obvious and very simple. If the Chinese come here, they will come for citizenship or merely for labor. If they come for citizenship, then in this desire do they give

17589-579: Was also able to provide higher education for his children; the young Charles attended Boston Latin School, where he befriended Robert Charles Winthrop , James Freeman Clarke , Samuel Francis Smith , and Wendell Phillips . In 1830, he graduated from Harvard College , where he lived in Hollis Hall and was a member of the Porcellian Club . He then attended Harvard Law School , where he became

17732-472: Was as important for governments as it was for individuals, and legal institutions that inhibited personal progress—like slavery or segregation—were evil. The family's fortunes improved in 1825, when Charles Pinckney Sumner became Sheriff of Suffolk County ; he held the position until his death in 1838. The family attended Trinity Church , but after 1825, they occupied a pew in King's Chapel . Sumner's father

17875-425: Was chosen by the caucus and elected by the legislature in February 1861. Weed was content to have blocked the editor, and stated that he had "paid the first installment on a large debt to Mr. Greeley". After Lincoln's election, there was talk of secession in the South. The Tribune was initially in favor of peaceful separation, with the South becoming a separate nation. According to an editorial on November 9: If

18018-467: Was deeply involved in the campaign of the Whig candidate for president in 1840 , William Henry Harrison . He published the major Whig periodical, the Log Cabin , and also wrote many of the pro-Harrison songs that marked the campaign. These songs were sung at mass meetings, many organized and led by Greeley. According to biographer Robert C. Williams, "Greeley's lyrics swept the country and roused Whig voters to action." Funds raised by Weed helped distribute

18161-523: Was defeated by the Democrat, former Tennessee governor James K. Polk , though Greeley worked hard on Clay's behalf. Greeley had taken positions in opposition to slavery as editor of The New-Yorker in the late 1830s, opposing the annexation of the slaveholding Republic of Texas to the United States. In the 1840s, Greeley became an increasingly vocal opponent of the expansion of slavery. Greeley hired Margaret Fuller in 1844 as first literary editor of

18304-425: Was editor) and ran the business side. Politically, the Tribune backed Kentucky Senator Henry Clay , who had unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination that fell to Harrison, and supported Clay's American System for development of the country. Greeley was one of the first newspaper editors to have a full-time correspondent in Washington, an innovation quickly followed by his rivals. Part of Greeley's strategy

18447-517: Was geographically and financially strategic, especially for the Pacific Coast States. He said Alaska would increase America's borders, spread republican institutions, and represent an act of friendship with Russia. The treaty won its needed two-thirds majority by one vote. The 1867 treaty neither formally recognized, categorised, nor compensated any native Alaskan Eskimos or Indians, referring to them only as "uncivilized tribes" under

18590-579: Was impossible, and Senate Republicans stripped him of his power. Sumner opposed Grant's 1872 reelection and supported Liberal Republican Horace Greeley . He died in office less than two years later. Charles Sumner was born on Irving Street in Boston on January 6, 1811. His father, Charles Pinckney Sumner , was a Harvard -educated lawyer, abolitionist , and early proponent of racial integration of schools, who shocked 19th-century Boston by opposing anti- miscegenation laws. His mother, Relief Jacob, worked as

18733-457: Was not widely known, giving the editor more credibility. Greeley (and Seward) biographer Glyndon G. Van Deusen noted that it is uncertain how great a part Greeley played in Seward's defeat by Lincoln—he had little success gaining delegates for Bates. On the first two ballots, Seward led Lincoln, but on the second only by a small margin. After the third ballot, on which Lincoln was nominated, Greeley

18876-593: Was of English descent, and his forebears included early settlers of Massachusetts and New Hampshire , while his mother's family descended from Scots-Irish immigrants from the village of Garvagh in County Londonderry who had settled Londonderry, New Hampshire . Some of Greeley's maternal ancestors were present at the siege of Derry during the Williamite War in Ireland in 1689. Greeley

19019-463: Was of critical importance in transforming the struggling Republican party into a major political force." Theological and legal scholar William R. Long characterized the speech as "a most rebarbative and vituperative speech on the Senate floor", which "flows with Latin quotations and references to English and Roman history." In his eyes, the speech was "a gauntlet thrown down, a challenge to the 'Slave Power' to admit once and for all that it were encircling

19162-519: Was offered the editorship of the national Whig newspaper, the Madisonian . He demanded full control, and declined when not given it. Greeley, in his paper, initially supported the Whig program. As divisions between Clay and President Tyler became apparent, he supported the Kentucky senator and looked to a Clay nomination for president in 1844 . However, when Clay was nominated by the Whigs, he

19305-424: Was quickly noticed because he launched a series of attacks on legislative privileges, taking note of which congressmen were missing votes, and questioning the office of House Chaplain . This was enough to make him unpopular. But he outraged his colleagues when on December 22, 1848, the Tribune published evidence that many congressmen had been paid excessive sums as travel allowance. In January 1849, Greeley supported

19448-428: Was requested by a firm of Hartford publishers to write a history of the war. Greeley agreed, and over the next eight months he penned a 600-page volume, which would be the first of two, entitled The American Conflict . The books were very successful, selling a total of 225,000 copies by 1870, a large sale for the time. Throughout the war, Greeley played with ideas as to how to settle it. In 1862, Greeley had approached

19591-505: Was resistant, since the slave states Delaware , Maryland , Kentucky , and Missouri would be encouraged to join the Confederacy . Lincoln instead adopted a plan for gradual emancipation and compensation to slavers, but consulted Sumner frequently. Despite their disagreements, Lincoln called Sumner "my idea of a bishop" and an embodiment of the American people's conscience. In May 1861, Sumner counseled Lincoln to make emancipation

19734-467: Was seen among the Oregon delegation, a broad smile on his face. According to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin , "it is hard to imagine Lincoln letting Greeley's resentment smolder for years as Seward did". Seward's forces made Greeley a target of their anger at the senator's defeat. One subscriber cancelled, regretting the three-cent stamp he had to use on the letter; Greeley supplied

19877-558: Was the son of poor farmers Zaccheus and Mary (Woodburn) Greeley. Zaccheus was not successful, and moved his family several times, as far west as Pennsylvania. Horace attended the local schools and was a brilliant student. Seeing the boy's intelligence, some neighbors offered to pay Horace's way at Phillips Exeter Academy , but the Greeleys did not want to accept charity. In 1820, Zaccheus's financial reverses caused him to flee New Hampshire with his family lest he be imprisoned for debt, and settle in Vermont. Even as his father struggled to make

20020-431: Was the staff literary critic. Jane Swisshelm was one of the first women hired by a major newspaper. In 1859, Greeley traveled across the continent to see the West for himself, to write about it for the Tribune , and to publicize the need for a transcontinental railroad . He also planned to give speeches to promote the Republican Party. In May 1859, he went to Chicago, and then to Lawrence in Kansas Territory , and

20163-468: Was to make the Tribune a newspaper of national scope, not merely local. One factor in establishing the paper nationally was the Weekly Tribune , created in September 1841 when the Log Cabin and The New-Yorker were merged. With an initial subscription price of $ 2 a year, this was sent to many across the United States by mail and was especially popular in the Midwest. In December 1841, Greeley

20306-531: Was unimpressed by the local people. Nevertheless, after speaking before the first ever Kansas Republican Party Convention at Osawatomie, Kansas , Greeley took one of the first stagecoaches to Denver, seeing the town then in course of formation as a mining camp of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush . Sending dispatches back to the Tribune , Greeley took the Overland Trail , reaching Salt Lake City , where he conducted

20449-438: Was used against him when he ran for president in 1872. In the days leading up to Lincoln's inauguration , the Tribune headed its editorial columns each day, in large capital letters: "No compromise!/No concession to traitors!/The Constitution as it is!" Greeley attended the inauguration, sitting close to Senator Douglas, as the Tribune hailed the beginning of Lincoln's presidency. When southern forces attacked Fort Sumter ,

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