1860: Sumner's "The Barbarism of Slavery"

Grand Old Partisan Blog, June 4, 2007 – Michael Zak wrote,

On this day in 1860, Senator Charles Sumner (R-MA) delivered his classic address The Barbarism of Slavery. Sumner had just returned from four years in France recovering from a brutal *attack by a Democrat congressman. No one in Congress had previously dared openly criticize slavery and slave-holders. His denunciation of the Democratic Party's pro-slavery policies was eloquent and devastating: Read a powerful excerpt from Sen. Sumner’s speech at Michael Zak’s Grand Old Partisan Blog.

*Congressman Brooks (D-SC) was Sumner’s attacker. See the Wikipedia entry for Preston Brooks. See also Sen. Charles Sumner and full text of Barbarism of Slavery. Mr. Zak is the author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party