EQUAL RIGHTS, WHETHER POLITICAL OR CIVIL, BY ACT OF CONGRESS.
Letter to the Border State Convention at Baltimore, September 8, 1867.
September 12, 1867, Tennessee, Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, and the District of Columbia were fully represented in what was called “the Border State Convention,” which assembled in the Front Street Theatre, Baltimore. The object, in the language of the call, was “to advance the cause of manhood suffrage, and to demand of Congress the passage of the Sumner-Wilson bill.” The following letter from Mr. Sumner was read to the Convention.
Boston, September 8, 1867.
DEAR SIR,—I shall not be able to be with you at your Convention in Baltimore, according to the invitation with which you have honored me. I ask you to accept my best wishes.
Congress will leave undone what it ought to do, if it fails to provide promptly for the establishment of Equal Rights, whether political or civil, everywhere throughout the Union. This is a solemn duty, not to be shirked or postponed.
The idea is intolerable, that any State, under any pretension of State Rights, can set up a political oligarchy within its borders, and then call itself a republican government. I insist with all my soul that such a government must be rejected, as inconsistent with the requirements of the Declaration of Independence.
Faithfully yours,
Charles Sumner.