Excerpt from The Works of Charles Sumner, Vol. 14 Our majorities in Massachusetts are large, but so are our responsibilities. From the historic character of the Commonwealth, from the position it has occupied in the warfare with Slavery, and from its fame as the home of ideas, we cannot afford to be sluggish or indif forent nor can we break up into disjointed squads. It is not enough, if we give a majority sufficient to elect our candidates we must make the majority command ing, controlling, so as to be an example and a power in the land. Massachusetts ideas and interests are to be maintained and advanced, not merely here at home, but in the nation. Besides State ofiicers, we choose at this election members of Congress, and a Legislature which will elect a Senator of the United States. Therefore must we regard our duties to the nation, the first of which is to make Massachusetts the bulwark of the national cause. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.