Voting Station

Charles Sumner

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U.S. Senator

The Resume

    (January 6, 1811-March 11, 1874)
    Born in Boston, Massachusetts
    Senator from Massachusetts (1851-74)
    Leader of Radical Republicans during the Civil War and Reconstruction

Why he might be annoying:

    An early trip to Washington (1834) left him with a feeling of 'loathing' towards a political career.
    He admitted about his lack of a sense of humor, 'you might as well look for a joke in the Book of Revelation.'
    In a speech denouncing the Kansas-Nebraska Act, he called Stephen Douglas a 'noisome, squat, and nameless animal ... not a proper model for an American senator,' and mocked Senator Andrew Butler's stroke-induced speech impediment.
    He was largely excluded from working on the Thirteenth Amendment, which banned slavery, because of a feud with Judiciary Committee Chair Lyman Trumball.
    He demanded that Great Britain hand over Canada to the US as payment for damages caused by Confederate raiders using British ports.

Why he might not be annoying:

    Two days after his speech attacking Senator Butler, Butler's nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks, responded by beating him into unconsciousness with a cane (May 22, 1856).
    He was one of the most vocal advocates for full civil rights for blacks and against segregation.
    One historian called him 'perhaps the least racist man in America in his day.'
    When it was suggested that his views on civil rights were unrealistic, he replied, 'The Utopias of one age have been the realities of the next.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 17 Votes: 58.82% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 17 Votes: 47.06% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 17 Votes: 29.41% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 12 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 15 Votes: 13.33% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 34 Votes: 47.06% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 98 Votes: 36.73% Annoying