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Charles Sumner

Charles Sumner
Artist
Louis Prang Lithography Company, active 1856 - 1899
Sitter
Charles Sumner, 6 Jan 1811 - 11 Mar 1874
Date
c. 1862-65
Type
Print
Medium
Lithograph with tintstone on paper
Dimensions
Image: 27 × 22.1 cm (10 5/8 × 8 11/16")
Sheet: 35.6 × 28.1 cm (14 × 11 1/16")
Mat: 56.1 × 40.7 cm (22 1/16 × 16")
Topic
Printed Material\Document
Costume\Dress Accessory\Neckwear\Tie
Costume\Dress Accessory\Handkerchief
Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Muttonchops
Charles Sumner: Male
Charles Sumner: Law and Crime\Lawyer
Charles Sumner: Politics and Government\Statesman
Charles Sumner: Education and Scholarship\Educator\Lecturer
Charles Sumner: Politics and Government\US Senator\Massachusetts
Portrait
Place
United States\Massachusetts\Suffolk\Boston
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.80.150
Exhibition Label
Born Boston, Massachusetts
As a U.S. senator from Massachusetts (1851–74), Charles Sumner fought fervently to limit—and later abolish—slavery in the United States. Just days after delivering “The Crime Against Kansas” (1856), a speech denouncing the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) and its pro-slavery supporters in Congress, Sumner was severely injured in an assault by Representative Preston Brooks from South Carolina. The attack became a galvanizing event in the growing tensions between the North and South during the 1850s.
During the Civil War, Sumner was one of the first members of Congress to argue for abolition and to urge President Lincoln to pursue emancipation. Two weeks after Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, Sumner celebrated the announcement in a speech at Boston’s Faneuil Hall. This print shows Sumner holding a copy of Lincoln’s text aloft with a brief excerpt from the senator’s speech inscribed below.
Nacido en Boston, Massachusetts
Como senador por Massachusetts (1851–74), Charles Sumner luchó con fervor por limitar (y luego abolir) la esclavitud en EE.UU. Días después de su discurso “El crimen contra Kansas” (1856) —una denuncia de la Ley Kansas-Nebraska (1854) y de los proesclavistas que la apoyaron en el Congreso—, Sumner recibió graves lesiones al ser atacado por Preston Brooks, representante de Carolina del Sur. El ataque fue un catalítico en las crecientes tensiones entre el norte y el sur en la década de 1850.
Durante la Guerra Civil, Sumner fue uno de los primeros congresistas que propugnaron la abolición e instaron al presidente Lincoln a buscar la emancipación. Dos semanas después de que Lincoln emitiera una proclama de emancipación preliminar, el 22 de septiembre de 1862, Sumner celebró el anuncio con un discurso en el Faneuil Hall de Boston. En esta estampa sostiene en alto una copia del texto de Lincoln; abajo aparece un fragmento de su discurso.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Exhibition
Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900
On View
NPG, East Gallery 111