Sumner’s actions, Winthrop’s reaction, and the ensuing fallout make the incident the ideal microscope through which to view the competing facets of Charles Sumner’s personality, characteristics he demonstrated to a wide audience in the latter half of the 1840s, traits he would carry with him for his entire life. In this Sumner versus Sumner struggle, the unwavering antislavery crusader, the equal rights idealist, the visionary who foresaw a bright future few others thought possible, waged a constant internal battle against the sanctimonious egotist, the self-appointed martyr of righteousness,
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