Abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was the one voice in Congress constantly working toward emancipation of the slaves and guaranteeing them their civil and voting rights. His 1856 Senate speech, The Crime Against Kansas, caused a cowardly attack on his person in the Senate chamber. This inflamed the North and helped unify disparate elements to oppose slavery. His recovery took nearly three years, but not long afterward he became chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he was influential in preventing foreign intervention in the Civil War. He became a friend and confidant of President Lincoln. He hounded Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation because there were not the votes in Congress to accomplish it there.