AUTOGRAPH CLOSE of a Letter SIGNED by the Civil War era U.S. Senator and abolitionist CHARLES SUMNER.. This item is unavailable.AUTOGRAPH CLOSE of a Letter SIGNED by the Civil War era U.S. Senator and abolitionist CHARLES SUMNER.

Good. - Charles Sumner's signed close of a letter penned on 3-3/4 inch high by 5 inch wide sheet of paper clipped from the end of a letter. Signed "Yours Truly / Charles Sumner", with the recipients names "Annie L. Richmond" and "Cane C.B. Richmond" of Lowell, Mass. penned beneath. Folded horizontally and vertically, the close is mounted onto 4-1/8 inch high by 5-3/8 inch wide heavier stock. There is some minor soiling. Good. A member of several anti-slavery groups, the abolitionist statesman Charles Sumner (1811-1874) served as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts before, through and after the Civil War. His opposition to slavery while in the Senate led to his being attacked and the infamous beating by Preston Brooks on the Senate floor. This action made him a symbol of the anti-slavery cause. Sumner headed the Radical Republican faction which thought that President Lincoln was too moderate towards the South. He chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee through the war using his position to ensure that neither France nor Britain interfered on behalf of the Confederate States. He lost his position on the committee in 1871 following his dispute over President Ulysses S. Grant's attempted annexation of Santa Domingo. Sumner is credited with coining the phrase "equality before the law".…