Charles Sumner, heroic Massachusetts Republican Senator
Grand Old Partisan honors Charles Sumner, born in Boston, January 6th 1811. This skilled orator graduated from Harvard Law School. He is one of four heroes on the cover of Back to Basics for the Republican Party.
In 1851, a coalition of Free Soil Party and Whig Party and a few Democrats elected him to the U.S. Senate. When the Republican Party formed, Sumner convinced many congressmen to join this Grand New Party. In 1856, a Democrat congressman beat him nearly to death on the Senate floor for speaking against slavery.
During the Civil War, Senator Sumner avidly backed the Lincoln administration and was a close family friend. While chairing the Foreign Relations Committee, he, not Secretary of State Seward, was most responsible for avoiding war with Britain over the Trent Affair. At a meeting with Andrew Johnson to plead for the rights of emancipated slaves, that Democrat President showed his disdain for African-Americans by spitting tobacco juice into Sumner’s hat.
Among his last words were "You must take care of the civil rights bill, my bill. Don’t let it fail." Sumner’s bill soon became the 1875 Civil Rights Act, the final legislative attempt to defend southern African-Americans from their Democrat oppressors until the Republican Party’s Civil Rights Act of 1957. Sadly, the Supreme Court struck down the 1875 Civil Rights Act, but it would be reborn as the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Named for him is the magnificent Charles Sumner School in Washington, DC. It is now a museum.
Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know about the history of our party, the more Democrats will worry about the future of theirs. For more information, see www.grandoldpartisan.com.
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Here is my Substack about this article.
Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.
Each day, his YouTube videos and TikTok videos and Rumble videos and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states.
Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision.
"This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!"
"Your book is a national treasure. I'm always recommending it."
"Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP."
"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan."
"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before."
and
"one of the best books I ever read"
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