The fight in congress with Charles Sumner
and Preston Brooks fought in congress and Charles slammed h
s cane on his head 10 times. The violence erupting in Kansas as
a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act spilled over into the halls
of Congress. In 1856, South Carolina Representative Preston
Brooks beat Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner with a
cane because he condemned the pro-slavery views of Brooks’s
relative, Senator Andrew Butler. Two years later in a late night
House session, a brawl involving more than 50 representatives
broke out over the expansion of slavery into Western
territories. The fight ended in comedy when one member
snatched an opponent’s wig, exclaiming “I’ve scalped him!”
Despite the humor, the brawl was seen as a foreboding sign of
conflicts to come now back to the election