Charles Pinckney Sumner (January 20, 1776—April 24, 1839) was an American attorney,

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

, and politician who served as Sheriff of Suffolk County, Massachusetts from 1825 to 1838. He was an early proponent of racially integrated schools and shocked 19th-century Boston by opposing anti-

miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different Race (human categorization), races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to m ...

laws."Charles Sumner." Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2009
available online
/ref> His son was famed abolitionist and U.S. Senator

Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) 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 th ...

Early life and education

Sumner was born on January 20, 1776, out of wedlock to Esther Holmes. His father, Major Job Sumner, was a Harvard student who dropped out of classes to serve in the American Revolution. After the Revolution, Job Sumner served as a commissioner for the new Confederation government to settle claims with Georgia. Sumner attended

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = M ...

and then

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

, where he became a personal friend to

Joseph Story Joseph Story (September 18, 1779 – September 10, 1845) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from 1812 to 1845. He is most remembered for his opinions in '' Martin v. Hunter's Lessee'' and '' United Stat ...

. At his graduation in 1796, he delivered a valedictory poem in the chapel. Under Story's influence, he became an ardent Jeffersonian in politics, even though Massachusetts was a strongly Federalist state.

Career

He then studied law under Josiah Quincy. While there Sumner practiced law and served as Clerk of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

from 1807 to 1808 and again 1810 to 1811, but his legal practice was only moderately successful, and his family teetered on the edge of the middle class. In 1819, he gave up his legal practice to serve as deputy sheriff of Suffolk County. In 1825, Governor Levi Lincoln appointed Sumner as Sheriff of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, a position he held until 1839. The position markedly increased his income, enabling him to afford higher education for his children.

Opposition to slavery

Sumner hated slavery and taught his son that freeing the slaves would "do us no good" unless they were treated equally by society. Sumner was a close associate of

William Ellery Channing William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. Channi ...

, an influential Unitarian minister in Boston. Channing believed that human beings had an infinite potential to improve themselves. Expanding on this argument, Sumner concluded that environment had "an important, if not controlling influence" in shaping individuals. By creating a society where "knowledge, virtue and religion" took precedence, "the most forlorn shall grow into forms of unimagined strength and beauty." Moral law, he believed, was as important for governments as it was for individuals, and legal institutions that inhibited one's ability to grow—like slavery or segregation—were evil. While Sumner often viewed contemporary society critically, his faith in reform was unshakable. When accused of utopianism, he replied: "The Utopias of one age have been the realities of the next."

Personal life

Sumner married Relief Jacob, a 25-year-old seamstress and the granddaughter of a wealthy landowner and politician from

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

and descendant of provincial Puritan Governor William Bradford. They were described as exceedingly formal and undemonstrative. They had at least nine children: twins

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

(1811-1874) and Matilda (1811-1832), Albert (1812-1856), Henry (1814-1852), George (1817-1863), Jane (1820-1837), Mary (1822-1844), Horace (1824-1850), and Julia (1827-1876). Charles attended

Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...

and

; after his father's death, he was elected United States Senator in 1851 and became a leader in the crusade against slavery. The family first lived on Botolph (now Irving) Street in Boston's wealthy

Beacon Hill Beacon Hill may refer to: Places Canada * Beacon Hill, Ottawa, Ontario, a neighbourhood * Beacon Hill Park, a park in Victoria, British Columbia * Beacon Hill, Saskatchewan * Beacon Hill, Montreal, a neighbourhood in Beaconsfield, Quebec United ...

neighborhood, where Charles and Matilda were born. Later, they moved to Hancock Street, where they lived in a modest home. The family attended Trinity Church. After his 1826 promotion to sheriff, they moved to a much larger thirteen-room, three story home at 20 Hancock Street and occupied a pew in King's Chapel. His "Eulogy on the illustrious George Washington. Pronounced at Milton, twenty-second February, 1800" was published by Horace Mann. He delivered various speeches, poems, and letters. He was a second cousin of

Edwin Vose Sumner Edwin Vose Sumner (January 30, 1797March 21, 1863) was a career United States Army officer who became a Union Army general and the oldest field commander of any Army Corps on either side during the American Civil War. His nicknames "Bull" or "Bul ...

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinckney Sumner, Charles Abolitionists from Boston American people of English descent 1776 births 1839 deaths Harvard College alumni Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery