Read on Twitter
In 1856, Congressman Brooks of South Carolina, bashed abolitionist Senator Sumner in the head with a cane after he delivered a speech stating the expansion of slavery was a "crime."
After the attack, members of Congress began arming themselves before venturing onto the floor.
After the attack, members of Congress began arming themselves before venturing onto the floor.
Southern Democrats applauded Brooks and some threatened Sumner with an even "worse thrashing" if he kept up his rhetoric. The Richmond Enquirer, a leading Southern newspaper, described the assault as "good in conception, better in execution, and best of all in consequences."
In his home state of South Carolina, Brooks frequently received wooden canes as gifts from admiring white supremacists in the South's pro-slavery Democratic Party.
The defense of Brooks' by Southern politicians pushed Northerners to feel that the Democratic Party and slavery itself were equally violent and reprehensible.
One abolitionist explained the caning of Sumner would "awaken our people from the lethargy which they have sunk."
One abolitionist explained the caning of Sumner would "awaken our people from the lethargy which they have sunk."
Abolitionists circulated thousands of copies of Sumner's speech. One abolitionist politician in Massachusetts claimed: "We can bring together a large class of influential people who would not be so likely otherwise to step within our ranks."
"Northerners found it easier to believe what Sumner and abolitionists had long claimed...the Slave Power's influence was achieved by their alliance with weak-willed and conservative Northerners in Congress...which dictated...government in an undemocratic and oppressive way."
