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The influence of Charles Sumner on expansion Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Kimble, Elbert J. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 28/09/2021 08:43:37 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/306116 '1wy� �/�\P' 0 � �'I dZ��' TIm I�UENCE OF CHARLES SUMNRR ON EXPANSION. ���.. Sober and sane expansnon is a law of human develo:pment and pro- gress. The earliest glimpses of primitive man 'revec.. l to us activity, change, and migration. This hypothesis of evolution is now generally as t sumed in explaining any department of human life, and, also for man sore ...· ation. It is now generally conceded, and especially since the election of 1900, that the isolation of the United states from the world's politics " ceased with the olose of the nineteenth century. After four hundr'ed Jrears of preparation for this new world mission, the United states regardless of any ethical question, or even the question of political expediency is d,es- tined to assume sober responsibilities as a world·wower. That our country will suoceed in every respect in this ne role is hardly to be expected. We have not succeeded perfectly in governing our home possessions. But our country vTith its glorious past; and let us hope with a grander :future will meet these world responsibilities in a square, fair, Anglo-Saxon :fashion. In this paper it is pro])osed to consider the influence of Charles Sumner upon first, internal expansion; and, secondly, bois influ Bnce upon external expansion'in the United states. As we recede from the period of the civil war and reoonstructicm we see more and more clearly that Mr. Sumner stood for all that is pure and holy in the elevated statesmanship. He cQura,geously fought ,for the I e whioh so the 01' men great gu.Ld ng pr Lnc Lpf.e , profoundly stirred. hearts in those dark days. In greatness and nobility of character Mr. Sumner measures even to the shoulder$ of the great commoner. In a resolution introduced in the Senate on June 23, 1870, sen- ator Sunmer said that all Eurppean countries were destined to loose their I colonies in the western hemisphere. Ho\ever, at the threshold of public life in Massachusetts he opposed the admission of Texas. Hardly had Texas thrown off the govermnent of Mexico when Calhoun declared that the'south should annex Texas to the Union. It is true that Mexico had abolished slavery.in Texas in 1829. However, Texas had been settled by colonists' :from the Southwestern states. The emigrants carried with them their slaves and they proposed in this new country to set up anew the institution of slavery. So, then, when Texas became independent slavery really existed within her borders'. Astute Bothern statesmen looked to the annexation of Texas as the best means of securing the safety of the South. Sumner was not opposed to the United states acquiring this vast empire if it could be accomplished. by honorable methods. He opposed the admission of �exas in 1845 on moral grounds; and for the further reason that slaveholders de- sired to create new s Iave states out of this country when acquired. This would. have given to the slave holding states the balance of powe r in the United States Senate and perpetuated the institution of human slavery. Sumner opposed the declaration of war against Mexico in PoJ:kts adminis tration Ylith all the ardor of his nature. All his doctrines in regard. to t war were founded upon Franklin s celebrated saying, "There never was a good II War or a bad peac e • In l.Tovember, 1845, Mr. Sumner wrote to a friend "The spirit of antislavery promises to absorb all of »e�'England. Massachusetts will never give her vote for another slaveholder. The cotton lords will � interf'ere but they will at last be borne away by the rising tide." I Congressional Goble, pp 5450-51. '_, �J.emo±rs and Letters 2, 670. In 1868 all arrangements had been made for the transfer of St. Thomas and St. Johns to the United States. The prize Was agreed upon as $10,000,000. The islands were to be conveyed to the United states, providad, the people of the island gave their consent. This was secured. The treaty Was ratified by the Danish Rigsdag and the King signed the treaty in January 1868. But the lower house of Congress considering the financial condition of the country would not vote the necessary money. A recent earthquake and hurricane in the island Anabled the opponents to ridicule the undertaking.' All through the life of Sumner our relations with Spain and the attitude we should assune toward Cuba 7as a problem that loomed larger and larger on the horizon. The Southern statesmen many times attempted to grab Cuba and other West India islands on order that they might con- vert them into more slave territory. �r. Sumner saw that ultimately that Spain must be driven from this continent, but he always maintained that "the true course of the United Statesff was "to avoiti involving ourselves anyway," and that the best rule was "non-interference, except in the way of good offices." AlWays endeavoring to live up to his high ideals Mr. Sumner said that by international law "nations are not left to any mere capr-Lc e , There is a rule of conduct which they must follow, subject al- ways to ju�t accountability where thJJ.Y depart from it. nUnder that law t belligerence is a 'fact att es t e d by evidence. If the fact does not exist there is nothing to recdgnize." Perhaps the admitting of new territories into the Union would bear somewhat on the theme of internal expansion. Senator Sumner re- gardless of any �uestion of political expediency publicly avowed that I cj,'��)3�.J!{/ f�/�---�-IZ2, L/Ft:a. territories should be admitted to the sisterhood of sta.tes as soon as they possess the reqvisite population. Irovided further that the territory before subma t t i.ng the bill to Congress had fa ed a, republican form of gov ernment lith a written constitution.' With the purchrse of Alaska in 1867 the United States launched forth unwittingly upon its first foreign colonization and ..Lxternal ex- pansion. With the acquisiti n of this northern country the names of Seward. and SlUr...ner are generally assoc t a ted. To repea t again) MY'. Stunner had an unwaverin belief that the whole of :"'orth America was to be ul- tinately occupied by the American republic. Re said that he believed it to be "a visible step in the occupation of tile whole of North Amerio.an continent," and "unwilling to miss the opportunity of dismissing another European sovereign from rur continent�lIr. Sumner was also undol1btedly influ- enced in this matter by the fact that Russia had been f�iendly to us dur- ing the civil '�ar. This was -also the first expansion of territory where the slave aristocra'Y had not figured. - came to was held her for no re Alaska Russia by discover ... and by than a century. The countrv was governed by a monoply known as the Rus- sian American Company. To defend it in time of War with Great Britian or the United tates vas impossible. At the ti_e the Crimean waA/broke out betv:een Great Eritian and Russia neutralized their possessions in the north- :!est territory. It Ls believed that if the Russian territory had been of use to England at this time she could have taken it. I Congressional Record, July 27, 1B66. � J'Iemo irs and Let ters, I, 325. The offer e:f cession of this v�st country to the United States came from Ru s s l a , Howeve �, the que s t i .m of the transfer of this territory a had been considered as early as 1859 by fev: persons in authori ty , Five million d ol La r-s was offered far the terri t(Jry. Russia WOIJ.lo_ nut acc ej.t this tt anc e and du the terrible of the war the pi , ring struggle civil pro- positi rn was totally forgotten. nut in eight yea rs Ru s sf.a an the United 8tates were to come to terms. It is ve�7 irn_ ortant nut to ove r-L ok the fact that Hussia d.esired to sell; that the United states anu. Russia had a.Lwaya been f:rienclly; an � that our gcv e i unerit f'e Lt grateful toward. the Czar on acount of his attitvue during the civil war. There was not much pub.l i c di s cu.s s Lon in the press or upon the �?latform concerning the purchase of Al.as ka , To many well illformed. men at Washington the pu rcha ae of this vast, .vilu., frozen r-e gl cn was a visionary acb eme , . The country was louked upon as a region wi th sparse animal and v ege t ab.l-e life; 'If/hila its marvel QUS mine ra.I resources ve re in part over> looked. The popuLat t on vvas about ten th sand, "c omp ss ec f a few Rus- It Es a nd the chief' t s o.La r Tbe sians, qu i.maux , p rocuc p bea: an' slacie �s.