Historical Speech: War powers of Congress. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, on the House bills for the confiscation of property and the liberation of slaves belonging to rebels

Charles Sumner

Historical Speech: War powers of Congress. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, on the House bills for the confiscation of property and the liberation of slaves belonging to rebels

6/27/1862

Historical Speech

The Internet Archive features an 1862 historical speech, given by Charles Sumner (LR-MA)--the leader of the anti-slavery forces in Massachusetts and the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate--to the United States Senate, that provides Sumner's opinion in regard to powers granted to Congress during times of war. According to Sumner, "to give freedom is nobler than to take property, and, on this occasion, it cannot fail to be more efficacious, for in this way the rear-guard of the Rebellion will be surely changed into the advance guard of the Union. There is in confiscation, unless when directed against the criminal authors of the rebellion, a harshness inconsistent with that mercy which it is always a sacred duty to cultivate, and which should be manifest in proportion to our triumphs..."

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Library of Congress

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