Okla-homey
5/22/2009, 06:43 AM
May 22, 1856: Preston Brooks attacks Charles Sumner
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8848/sumnerhdargumentschival.jpg
156 years ago today, Congressman Preston Brooks(D-SC) savagely beats Northern Senator Charles Sumner(R-MA) in the halls of Congress as tensions rise over the expansion of slavery.
The beatdown when the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was passed. Under the act, popular sovereignty was applied within the two new territories and people were given the right to decide the slave issue by vote.
Because the act nullified the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the debate over slavery intensified. Northerners were incensed that slavery could again resurface in an area where it had been banned for over 30 years.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8589/sumnerunitedstatesin185.jpg
When violence broke out in Kansas Territory, the issue became central in Congress. On May 19, Senator Charles Sumner, an ardent abolitionist, began a two-day speech on the Senate floor in which he decried the "crime against Kansas" and blasted three of his Senate colleagues by name, one of whom—South Carolina Senator Andrew P. Butler—was elderly, sick, and absent from the proceedings.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5849/sumner1066.jpg
Sen. Charles Sumner
Butler's cousin, Representative Preston Brooks, who had a history of violence, took it upon himself to defend the honor of his kin. He strolled over to the Senate chamber from his seat in the House of Represenatives wielding the cane he used for injuries he incurred in a duel over a political debate in 1840. Brooks entered the Senate chamber, walked over Sumner and attacked Sumner while he sat at his desk, which was bolted to the floor.
Sumner's legs were pinned by the desk so he could not escape the savage beating. It was not until other senators subdued Brooks that Sumner finally escaped.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/7912/sumner230pxpbrookssc2.jpg
Rep. Preston Brooks
Brooks became an instant hero in the South, and supporters sent him hundreds of replacement canes, some of which were quite expensive and encrusted with jewels.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9056/sumner34286997493d6aeaf.jpg
Historical Marker along Main St. Route 34 at Chamber of Commerce Building.
Ninety Six, South Carolina
Brooks was vilified in the North and became a symbol of the stereotypically inflexible, uncompromising representative of the slave power. The incident exemplified the growing hostility between the two camps in the prewar years.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8316/sumnercaningxl.jpg
A sympathetic northern cartoonist portrayed Senator Charles Sumner's May 1856 beating by South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks.
Sumner did not return to the Senate for three years while he recovered from his beatdown.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8848/sumnerhdargumentschival.jpg
156 years ago today, Congressman Preston Brooks(D-SC) savagely beats Northern Senator Charles Sumner(R-MA) in the halls of Congress as tensions rise over the expansion of slavery.
The beatdown when the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was passed. Under the act, popular sovereignty was applied within the two new territories and people were given the right to decide the slave issue by vote.
Because the act nullified the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the debate over slavery intensified. Northerners were incensed that slavery could again resurface in an area where it had been banned for over 30 years.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8589/sumnerunitedstatesin185.jpg
When violence broke out in Kansas Territory, the issue became central in Congress. On May 19, Senator Charles Sumner, an ardent abolitionist, began a two-day speech on the Senate floor in which he decried the "crime against Kansas" and blasted three of his Senate colleagues by name, one of whom—South Carolina Senator Andrew P. Butler—was elderly, sick, and absent from the proceedings.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5849/sumner1066.jpg
Sen. Charles Sumner
Butler's cousin, Representative Preston Brooks, who had a history of violence, took it upon himself to defend the honor of his kin. He strolled over to the Senate chamber from his seat in the House of Represenatives wielding the cane he used for injuries he incurred in a duel over a political debate in 1840. Brooks entered the Senate chamber, walked over Sumner and attacked Sumner while he sat at his desk, which was bolted to the floor.
Sumner's legs were pinned by the desk so he could not escape the savage beating. It was not until other senators subdued Brooks that Sumner finally escaped.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/7912/sumner230pxpbrookssc2.jpg
Rep. Preston Brooks
Brooks became an instant hero in the South, and supporters sent him hundreds of replacement canes, some of which were quite expensive and encrusted with jewels.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9056/sumner34286997493d6aeaf.jpg
Historical Marker along Main St. Route 34 at Chamber of Commerce Building.
Ninety Six, South Carolina
Brooks was vilified in the North and became a symbol of the stereotypically inflexible, uncompromising representative of the slave power. The incident exemplified the growing hostility between the two camps in the prewar years.
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8316/sumnercaningxl.jpg
A sympathetic northern cartoonist portrayed Senator Charles Sumner's May 1856 beating by South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks.
Sumner did not return to the Senate for three years while he recovered from his beatdown.