It is often said today that politics have hit a new low with insults and retaliation statements seemingly thrown about daily. Yet, American politics have a long and dirty past, and in the years leading up to the American Civil War, Congressmen often armed themselves with pistols before entering the Senate chambers, as tensions ran high. This fear of violence would prove to be well founded, when in May of 1856, violence did find it's way onto the floor of the Senate.
The first character in our story is Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts senator and orator (note: in the 1850's an orator was a person who gave speeches for entertainment in the days before movies. Think of going to see a famous orator in the 1800's like we think of going to the movies today) who was well known for his deep commitment to civil rights and was a rising anti-slavery leader in the 1840's. The passing of the fugitive slave act in 1850 only caused Senator Sumner to increase his efforts and rhetoric against slavery, and the slave holding Southern States. In May of 1856, Senator Sumner gave a 2 day 90+ page speech titled "The Crime against Kansas" where he attacked the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In the speech Sumner viciously attacked what he viewed as the South's attempt to extend slavery into Kansas, and specifically called out South Carolina and the Senator from that state Andrew P Butler, who had co-authored the Kanasas Nebraska Act (Note: The Kansas Nebraska Act essentially stated that the territory of Kansas should be admitted into the Union as either a free or slave state, based on the vote of the populace of the state. Good in theory, but in reality caused immense violence and bloodshed throughout that state as opposing sides fought to gain the voting majority).
On the opposite side of the aisle from Senator Sumner, in more ways than one, was Congressman Preston Brooks. A vocal proponent of slavery and ardent supporter of the Kansas Nebraska Act, Brooks was a known hothead who had used violence as retaliation against perceived mistreatment and dishonor in the past. In fact, in 1840, he had challenged Louis T Wigfall to a dual over a disagreement Wigfall had with Brook's elderly father. Brooks would survive the duel, but not before receiving a wound that would result in him using a cane for the remainder of his life, which will come into play in our story shortly.
Preston Brooks was a distant cousin of Andrew P Butler, whom Sumner had attacked in his 2 day speech in May of 1856. After hearing the speech, Preston Brooks felt that Sumner needed to be called out for his attacks on the South and his cousin. Brooks consulted with fellow South Carolinian representative Laurence Keitt about dueling etiquette. However, Keitt advised Brooks to forgo the duel, as Sumner had used supposedly coarse language in his speech, and therefore was not a gentleman worthy of honorable treatment. The two men instead decided that they needed to humiliate Sumner in retaliation for his speech.
On May 22, 1856 Preston Brooks, after waiting for the Senate gallery to mostly clear, as Brooks did not want to chance any woman seeing what he was abot to do, entered the chamber along with along with Keitt and another congressman ally Henry Edmundson. Brooks confronted Sumner as he sat writing at his desk in the almost empty Senate chamber. "Mr. Sumner, I have read your speech twice over carefully. It is a libel on South Carolina, and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine," Brooks calmly announced in a low voice.
As Sumner began to stand up, Brooks hit Sumner severely on the head before he could reach his feet, using a thick gutta percha cane with a gold head. The force of the blows so shocked Sumner that he lost his sight immediately. "I no longer saw my assailant, nor any other person or object in the room. What I did afterwards was done almost unconsciously, acting under the instincts of self-defense," he (Sumner) recalled later. Sumner was knocked under his desk (which was bolted to the floor) and became trapped under it. In effort to get away from his assailant, Sumner rose to his feet, ripping the desk from floor. As Sumner, blinded by his own blood, attempted to flee up the aisle, Brooks continued to attack him. At one point, Brook's cane broke, but he continued to hit Sumner across the head and shoulders. When Sumner finally fell down unconscious, Brooks picked him up by the lapel of his coat and continued to hit him with his cane "to the full extent of my power" according to Brooks. The few other people in the room at the time attempted to come to Sumner's aide, but were held back by Brook's companions. Edmundson physically blocked others from helping and yelled at others to leave Sumner and Brooks alone, while Keitt branded a pistol and his own cane and shouted "Let them alone, God damn you, let them alone." Finally, others in the room were able to subdue Brooks, and help Sumner first to the coatroom, and then to his home where could receive the necessary medical care. Brooks also needed medical attention, as he had hit himself above his right eye during one of his back swings.
Sumner would survive the attack, although it would take him over 3 years to recover before returning to the Senate in 1859. And despite Southerners claims that Sumner was faking his injuries because Brooks did not wield a cane heavy enough to cause any major damage, and Brooks had only hit Sumner a few times, Sumner suffered head trauma that caused him chronic, debilitating pain for the rest of his life and symptoms consistent with what is now called traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
After the attack, Brooks was arrested, but ended up only having to pay a $300 fine (approximately $8,000 in today's money) for the attack. A vote to have Brooks expelled from office failed to pass in the House of Representatives. Brooks would voluntarily resign his seat, but it ended up simply being a calculated move to showcase the support he enjoyed from Southerner's, as they quickly re-elected him to fill his recently vacated seat. Southerners quickly supplied Brooks the funds to pay his fine, and some even sent him new canes. Brooks also received invitations to more events in his honor than he could attend throughout the South in the year following the event.
Following the attack, Brooks would enjoy his celebrity, while being elected to another term in 1856. However, he would die of croup before the next term started, and would not live to see the Civil War.
Sumner would return to the Senate in 1859, and be a champion of Civil Rights throughout the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. He would die of a heart attack in 1874 after serving 23 years in Congress.
Although politics certainly can get nasty today, let's hope that it never escalates the way it did on the day that violence and bloodshed reached the floor of the US Senate.
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