Charles Sumner/Preston
Brooks fight in Senate
Charles Sumner
An American politician and senator from Massachusetts. An academic lawyer
and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in
Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States
Senate during the American Civil War working to destroy the Confederacy, free
all the slaves and keep on good terms with Europe. During Reconstruction, he
fought to minimize the power of the ex-Confederates and guarantee equal rights
to the Freedmen. Sumner changed his political party several times, gaining fame
as a Republican. He devoted his enormous energies to the destruction of what
Republicans called the Slave Power, that is the efforts of slave owners to take
control of the federal government and ensure the survival and expansion of
slavery. In 1856, a South Carolina Congressman, Preston Brooks, nearly killed
Sumner on the Senate floor two days after Sumner delivered an intensely antislavery speech called "The Crime against Kansas". In the speech, Sumner
characterized the attacker's cousin, South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler, as a
pimp for slavery.[1] The episode played a major role in the coming of the Civil
War. During the war Sumner was a leader of the Radical Republican faction that
criticized President Abraham Lincoln for being too moderate on the South. One
of the most learned statesmen of the era, he specialized in foreign affairs, and
worked closely with Abraham Lincoln to keep the British and the French from
intervening on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Sumner's
expertise and energy made him a powerful chairman of the Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations
Preston Brooks
Democratic Representative from South Carolina, serving from 1853
until his death in 1857.
Brooks was a fervent advocate of slavery. He is primarily
remembered for severely beating Senator Charles Sumner (Free
Soil-Massachusetts), an abolitionist, with a cane on the floor of the
United States Senate, on May 22, 1856. This was in retaliation for
an anti-slavery speech by Sumner in which Sumner attacked
Brooks' uncle, Senator Andrew Butler (Democrat-South Carolina).
Brooks' action was applauded by many Southerners, and abhorred
in the North.[1] Although an attempt to oust him from the House of
Representatives was made, and he immediately resigned his seat,
he received only token punishment and was re-elected by the
people of South Carolina (but died before his next term began).[2]
Sumner was seriously injured, and unable to serve in the Senate for
three years, though eventually he largely recovered.[3]
Brooks' act and the polarizing national reaction to it to are
frequently cited as a major factor in the rising tensions leading up to
the American Civil War
Charles Sumner/ Preston Brooks
Fight in Senate
Charles Sumner speaks out against slavery and
slavery supporters such as Senator Andrew
Butler of South Carolina
Butler’s nephew, Representative Preston Brooks,
walks into the Senate and beats Sumner with a
cane. Sumner was unconscious and bleeding.
Northerners were upset, but Southerners
supported Brooks, going so far as to send him
canes to replace his broken one.
Since Preston Brooks is a part of the
senate while he beat up on Sumner he
got a $300 fine for the assault. He
resigned and returned home to South
Carolina, seeking the approval of his
actions there. South Carolina held
events in his honor and re-elected him
to his House seat.The replacement of
canes sent to Brooks from all over the
south outraged northern moderates
even more than the caning itself.
As For Charles Sumner
As for poor Charles Sumner, the physical
and psychological injuries from the caning
kept him away from the Senate for most of
the next several years. The voters of
Massachusetts also re-elected him, and let
his seat sit vacant during his absence as a
reminder of southern brutality. The violence
from Kansas had spilled over into the
national legislature.
A cause of the Civil War?
This event is a cause of the civil war
because the north and the south took sides.
(Charles Sumner) or (Preston Brooks)
The supporters of Preston Brooks sent him
more canes to replace the one that he
broke while beating up on Sumner. To
support Charles Sumner the north reelected him in the senate. They kept his
seat vacant until he was able to return.