Kusaimamekirai’s Reviews > Charles Sumner and The Coming of the Civil War > Status Update

"To thoughtful observers it was apparent that something dangerous was happening to the American Union when the two sections no longer spoke the same language, but employed rival sets of cliches to describe the Brooks-Sumner affair."
The year 1856 on line one for 2023.

“ 'Were the whole history of South Carolina blotted out of existence, from its very beginning down to the day of the last election of the Senator to his
present seat on this floor, civilization might lose—I do not say how little, but surely less than it has already gained by the example of Kansas, in its valiant struggle against oppression'"
Damn...not saying it's right Butler caned Sumner but I also kinda get it

"If it was argued that the rights of slaveholders had been settled by numerous laws and precedents, Sumner answered; 'Nothing.. .can be settled which is not right'. If it was argued that insuperable practical difficulties forbade emancipation, he replied simply; 'The Antislavery Enterprise is right; and the right is always practicable'."
The right is always practicable. Wise words no matter the time or place

A friend of Sumner’s once said: “Sumner is so much occupied with thoughts of how the world is to be made better, that he does not pause to consider and observe what the world really is”
Even if it wasn’t his intention, I feel like this is one of the highest compliments you can pay a person.

"Always responsive to praise, Sumner became (John Quincy) Adams’s adoring admirer."
Aside from both being from Massachusetts, they were always going to have a bromance weren't they?

"Warning Sumner to cease agitating the Texas issue was the most certain way of making him do just the opposite."
That's why he's one of my heroes

"Rose at 6:14, threw myself on my sofa...read undisturbed till about 10, when the servant brought breakfast, two eggs, a roll, and cup of chocolate. My reading went on, often till 5 and 6 o’clock in the evening, without once rising from the sofa. At 5 or 6 got up...dined in a garden under a mulberry tree, chiefly on fruits, salads, and wine. Walked. After an ice cream, to my books again"
I so want this life

"Only one thing interfered with his incipient love affair with France, his inability to master the French language. Though he had studied French at Harvard and had carefully reviewed his grammar before coming abroad, he discovered when he reached Paris that his 'French was no more fit for use than a rusty gun-barrel'.
Substitute "French" for "Japanese" and "Harvard" for my random university, and yup..story of my life

"(Sumner) thought that a woman should know her role. 'A female’s place is at home', he somewhat heavily instructed his young sister Jane when she was but fourteen years old, 'not abroad in the excited scenes of the world', and her principal charm should be the ability 'to listen intelligently'.
But, Boston ladies showed a disconcerting unwillingness to listen."
Good for the Boston ladies!

"(Sumner) was...almost impervious to a joke. Oliver Wendell Holmes exaggerated only a little when he declared that if one told Sumner that the moon was made of green cheese, he would say: 'No! it cannot be so!', and proceed to give weighty reasons to the contrary."