Caning of Charles Sumner
Attack of US Senator by a Representative / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The caning of Charles Sumner, or the Brooks–Sumner Affair, occurred on May 22, 1856, in the United States Senate chamber, when Representative Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist Republican from Massachusetts. The attack was in retaliation for an invective-laden speech given by Sumner two days earlier in which he fiercely criticized slaveholders, including pro-slavery South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler, a relative of Brooks. The beating nearly killed Sumner and contributed significantly to the country's polarization over the issue of slavery. It has been considered symbolic of the "breakdown of reasoned discourse"[1] and willingness to resort to violence that eventually led to the Civil War.
Caning of Charles Sumner | |
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Location | United States Senate chamber, United States Capitol, Washington, D.C. |
Date | May 22, 1856; 168 years ago (1856-05-22) |
Target | Charles Sumner |
Attack type | Assault by caning |
Perpetrator | Preston Smith Brooks |
Motive | Retaliation to an anti-slavery speech by Sumner |
Verdict | Guilty |
Convictions | Assault |
Sentence | Brooks fined $300 ($10,170 in today's dollars) |
Although Sumner was unable to return to the Senate until December 1859,[2] the Massachusetts legislature refused to replace him, leaving his empty desk in the Senate as a public reminder of the attack.