Chapter 45: The Savagery in Kansas Visits the Floor of the Senate

1856

Back in D.C., abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner delivers a blistering attack on the South in his “Crimes in Kansas” address, which includes a string of slurred sentences mocking his South Carolina colleague, Albert Butler, impaired by a recent stroke.

Three day later, Butler’s cousin, Congressman Preston Brooks, approaches a seated Sumner at his Senate desk and administers what he calls “30 first-rate stripes” with his gutta percha cane. A bleeding and barely conscious Sumner is helped to safety, but his wounds will keep him from returning to Congress for over two years.

For his part, Brooks is expelled from the House only to be immediately re-elected by his home state supporters. They also send him hundreds of “replacement canes” to continue his good work against all abolitionists.

From this moment on, Congressmen across the aisle will regularly come into the chamber with knives and guns to protect their lives.