1864 CHARLES SUMNER. Thirteenth Amendment, Slavery and Freedmen Right to Testify in Court.

A very rare and desirable report of Charles Sumner's 1864 speech before the United States Senate regarding the rights of former slaves to testify in court. Fascinatingly, Sumner provides a history of black marginalization from the courts, argues that it was never intentionally called for by the Constitution and that there is nothing in "colored persons" as a people that could be in any way used to argue that they should not be legitimate witnesses in court.  He then goes on the excoriate the veneer of Southern justice, which had used this national de facto policy of prohibiting black testimony to essentially make it impossible for any black person to ever seek justice on their own or another slave's behalf. Again, with historical background into the early 18th century.  Finally, he works against traditional white arguments regarding black testimony, i.e. that they were motivated to lie, that they were generally heathen and untrustworthy, etc.,  As called for, the letter of Chief Justic