One of the most remarkable events in Congressional history occurred on May 22, 1856. Senator Charles Sumner was caned (meaning beaten up by a cane) on the floor of the Senate. I'll type that again...a senator was caned by a representative from South Carolina on the floor of the Senate! The disagreements over the spread of slavery had come to blows!
Read this article and this article to get a better feel for this incident. In the comment section, explain why this caning happened AND how it represented the struggle facing all of America at this time.
This weeks blog is about the Southern congressman attacking Northern senator. Preston Brooks attacked Charles Sumner. This all happened because of a speech. May I add in that he attacked him with a cane!
ReplyDeleteWow!
So Sumner gave big brutally speech which Preston Brooks did not like. He thought he went too far. So when Sumner was working at his desk in his office, Brooks walked in and said you have disrespected me and my cousin and all this stuff. He beat Sumner up with his cane that he walked with. It took Sumner 3 years to recover! Brooks became an instant hero in the South, and supporters sent him many replacement canes. wow that is crazy!
He became a symbol of uncompromising representative of the slave power. (128)
This was INSANE! So this guy, Preston Brooks, is a jerk! Mr. Charles Sumner was giving a speech called "Crime Against Kansas." He was talking about the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and slavery. He was from the north, and thought that slavery should be abolished. While blasting 3 of his colleagues by name, Preston Brooks came up and whacked him with his cane. People in the south thought he was a hero! The reason why this happened was because Sumner didn't like slavery and Brooks did. This represented the struggle because of what the disagreement led to. Neither side would work it out. I think that this was ridiculous and shouldn't have happened. (104)
ReplyDeleteNo offense but.... this totally sounds like something an opinionated Southerner would do! He freaking beat this dude with a cane until it broke! But backing it up a bit, I have to say why this happened. It all happened because Charles Sumner gave a 2 day long speech about his siding on the issue of slavery and popular sovereignty and all that. He verbally assaulted 3 men who could not defend themselves. So Preston Brooks, the family-defending Southerner that he was, made it his priority to repay Sumner for what he said. Now if this was me, I probably would have just caned the guy for talking for 2 days straight. It represented the struggle in the country because the South was going against the North because of issues in the country and they were expressing their feelings by physically hurting people. The whole South was involved because after Brooks broke his cane, Southerners sent him tons of replacement canes to show that they supported him! The North was more angry about that than it was about the actual caning. (181)
ReplyDeleteCharles Sumner was so very rude in his speech. I get that he was an abolitionist and he strongly expressed how he felt about the Kansas-Nebraska Act and popular sovereignty, blah blah blah. He verbally abused three people including old Andrew Butler. Well, Butler had a cousin. And that cousin, Preston Brooks, had a bad temper. He went to Sumner and beat him with his cane for how he treated his cousin. Obviously, Brooks went a little crazy with the whole beating thing, (which kept Sumner out of the senate for 3 years). This shows exactly how the north and south were fighting. They would harass each other verbally and physically. (111)
ReplyDeletewow! this is outrageous! so, Charles Sumner was a man from the north that did not care about slavery at all. so he gave a speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act. the speech was called "Crime Against Kansas". In the speech, Mr. Sumner offended some people we will say. One of those men was Andrew Butler. Andrew Butler had a cousin with a BAD temper! this man's name is Preston Brooks. He got very mad. And since he got very mad he took his cane beat him with it! This injury took forever to recover from! Preston Brooks became a huge hero in the south! they sent him canes because he was a hero! (113)
ReplyDeleteIn 1856, during the Bleeding Kansas crisis, Sumner denounced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in his "Crime against Kansas" speech, delivered on May 19 and May 20. The long speech argued for the immediate admission of Kansas as a free state and went on to denounce the Slave Power. Sumner then attacked the authors of the Act, Senators Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of South Carolina. Two days later Brooks confronted Sumner as he sat writing at his desk. As Sumner began to stand up, Brooks beat Sumner severely on the head before he could reach his feet, using a thick cane with a gold head. This shows how slavery was dividing the country and turning in to violence. 120
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting story. You don't go around hearing of a man in power coming to another man in a powerful position and beating him with a cane. A few days before this happened, Senator Charles Sumner was giving a speech that was about slavery (just like everything else in that time period), and he pointed out some people that were doing something wrong in Sumner's eyes. One of these people was another senator, Andrew Butler. His cousin Preston Brooks was mad and wanted to defend Butler so he walked in and beat Sumner with his cane. This came right after the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the North was mad that the land that has been free for years could now be a slave state. This angered the North and made our nation even more ready for the war that was approaching quickly. (144)
ReplyDeleteOk, first of all, let me just say I can understand having a strong opinion about something, but you don't just go and beat up some one with a cane! I don't think that Sumner deserved that at all! I think Brooks took it way to far and he could have gone a completely different route in stating his opinion! But beating him with a cane! I mean come on! I could say a lot more, but I need to say why this happened. So quick flashback, the Kansas-Nebraska act was very controversial. It gave the people the right to choose weather they wanted to be a slave or free state. Then a little ways in the future, Sumner gives a speech... A very strongly opinioned speech that is! He verbally abused 3 people, and one of those people had a cousin, and that is where Brooks comes in, and that leads us back to the cane story! (158)
ReplyDeleteoh snap ok um wow history just got a lot more interesting.....
ReplyDeleteAnyway i think that this happened because well lets be honest this senator gave a two day speech basically talking about how bad slavery was and stuff like that which is at the time what most southerners businesses completely relied on and he talked bad about it for two days. that's just not a good idea and he knew that they felt strongly about it. in a way he had it coming i don't know if i would consider "it" as getting beat up with a cane but he had something coming none the less. i think that this really shows how the north and the south felt about each other. for real though when i was reading this i was picturing this old guy with his cane hobble in there and start hitting this guy he doesn't like. i mean i think that's saying something
146
The caning happened because Charles Sumner expressed his view on slavery in a two day long speech. He verbally attacked three men in the speech. One of them was Andrew P. Butler. Butler’s cousin, Preston Brooks, was known for violence and wanted to defend his cousin who was not able to defend himself because he was sick. So Brooks went up to Sumner and violently smashed his head with a cane until the cane broke!
ReplyDeleteIt represented the struggle because a southern man attacked a northern man. It was like a mini model of the Civil War, except, the North did not win. Still, it showed what was about to happen to the whole country. North vs. South. (119)
I want to start off by saying just how random this is. With that taken care of, let’s het down to business.
ReplyDeleteWhy’d this happen? I mean, it’s not like you hear about people being beaten by canes everyday. Or maybe I’m just behind in the news. But, no matter what, we have to agree that this is strange and there really has to be some sort of logic behind it.
http://www.quickmeme.com/img/76/76576d99381f7dc7388ac42d5bd2e161251f1dd203f55a7a079c9b6ef14827c5.jpg
If you clicked on the link, the picture speaks truth.The honest truth is that a man beat another man with a cane ruthlessly because the other contradicted the first’s beliefs.
So, this represents the sadly stubborn views on both sides.
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