Charles Sumner Quotes
There are many disgusting elements in Slavery which are not present in Polygamy, while the single disgusting element of Polygamy is more than present in Slavery. By the license of Polygamy, one man may have many wives, all bound to him by the marriage tie, and in other respects protected by law.
Charles Sumner, 1811-1874, U. S. Senator (Democrat, Free Soiler and Republican, MA), Address, “The Barbarism of Slavery,” June 4, 1860
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The Republican Party condemned polygamy and slavery in its party platform of 1856
Billinghurst was physically handicapped without the use of her legs. She protested and marched in protest parades using a hand propelled tricycle which the police sometimes dumped her out of and left her immobile in alleys.
As part of his sermon, Beecher would auction the freedom of a slave girl.
This quotation illustrates the Catch 22 dilemma that faces a minority. Black slaves were not allowed to marry and have formal families. After the Civil War racists warned against Blacks who had no respect for marriage monogamy end civil family life. See {619099} But when the slaves were freed and the ex slaves attempted to formalize and solemnize their marriages, they were castigated for that – acting like white people.
The other Southern States had similar legal principles while still maintaining the hypocrisy that their legal system was grounded on Christian morality.
Many leaders of nations are in denial about this problem which exists almost everywhere. In Israel, the problem is compounded because the very orthodox Jews and Muslims both come from a tradition where women are allocated a place subservient to men in many ways and to some (like some Christians) there is a perceived duty to discipline wives and daughters. So reform involves religious tradition and theology.
The law at that time gave a married woman almost no rights. The husband legally controlled the family assets regardless of who had earned or provided them. He aslo had absolute control of the upbringing of the children. Women could not vote and in many states were considered property of the husband.
Vladimir Lenin
The sexual exploitation of female slaves by the slave owner and/or his relatives was a phenomenon about which most Southerners were in denial. Light skinned and even white babies, born to Negro slaves was fairly common. The gross immorality was so great that it was too painful for most Southerners – especially white females to even contemplate much less discuss. At the same time, the abolitionists had to be very careful that to raise this problem as delicately as possible lest the lost their audience with such gross and indelicate behavior. This quotation was particularly artfully phrased.
Charles Sumner was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the U.S. Senate during the American Civil War. During Reconstruction, he fought to minimize the power of the ex-Confederates and guarantee equal rights to the freedmen. He fell into a dispute with President Ulysses Grant, a fellow Republican, over the control of Santo Domingo leading to the stripping of his power in the Senate and his subsequent effort to defeat Grant's re-election.
