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Sumner insulted Andrew Butler a House Representative from South Carolina and Brooks' uncle. Butler was sick at the time of Summers' insult which likely made them more personal and offensive to Brooks.

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Initially Sumner spent 3 years recovering from his injuries. Following that, he became chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee which became very important to him. Throughout the rest of his political career he continued to oppose slavery. The assault arguably made him more determined than before. For example after the civil war he wanted all states to have equal voting for black men when they rejoined the union.

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Despite not being expelled by the House Brooks still resigned. This altercation fined him and made him a hero in South Carolina. In the time between his resignation and reelection people supported him by donating the money to pay his fine and giving him social invitations.

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This small scandal was a representation of a larger issue within their society: The battle of slavery between the North and South. From this we can learn the significance a single event can have and the overall connect to larger issues. When objectively looking at a situation we can make connection between small events and larger more important ones in current life too.

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The fact that both men were senators is very important because jobs were to represent the people in their states. As a result, their actions directly reflect onto these people and are supposed to mimic their will.  When considered like this the attack is more then just personal and is really just another step toward the impending war.

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The scandal was political because it related to the larger tension between the north and south. The whole thing began as a result of Sumner responding to a political statement regarding the Kansas-Nebraska act. Additionally, both men were senators and the altercation happened on the House floor.

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The fact that Brooks was standing up for his family is an arguable point that he had good intentions. They justified his actions as morally correct since it helped them to protest the Kansas act that they did not agree with as well as the antislavery movement in general that they didn't agree with.

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A hero that could be used as propaganda to support their side of the coming war and the disputes over slavery.

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People continuously overlooked the extreme violence in this situation because they wanted a hero. They preferred to ignore the negative aspects of this situation and focus on the idea that Brooks was standing up for his beliefs and family like a good politician should.

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This assault was a representation of the disputes between the two sides. Two sides disagreed on an argument and it turned violent. On a small scale it was Brooks attacking Sumner physically in response to Sumner's verbal attack but on a larger scale the North and South went to war over the issue of slavery.

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Tension between north and south had been there for about 30 years when this scandal happened. People moved and set up new state governments which changed the dynamic of the controversy regarding slavory. 

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The growing tension between the North and South stemmed out of the slavory disagreement. The Kansas-Nebraska act addressed this. People used this altercation to increase the division between the sides and used it as evidence to justify their own actions or views. 

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May 22, 1856

On May 22, 1856, the "world's greatest deliberative body" became a combat zone. In one of the most dramatic and deeply ominous moments in the Senate's entire history, a member of the House of Representatives entered the Senate Chamber and savagely beat a senator into unconsciousness.

The inspiration for this clash came three days earlier when Senator Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts antislavery Republican, addressed the Senate on the explosive issue of whether Kansas should be admitted to the Union as a slave state or a free state. In his "Crime Against Kansas" speech, Sumner identified two Democratic senators as the principal culprits in this crime-Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of South Carolina. He characterized Douglas to his face as a "noise-some, squat, and nameless animal . . . not a proper model for an American senator." Andrew Butler, who was not present, received more elaborate treatment. Mocking the South Carolina senator's stance as a man of chivalry, the Massachusetts senator charged him with taking "a mistress . . . who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight-I mean," added Sumner, "the harlot, Slavery."

Representative Preston Brooks was Butler's South Carolina kinsman. If he had believed Sumner to be a gentleman, he might have challenged him to a duel. Instead, he chose a light cane of the type used to discipline unruly dogs. Shortly after the Senate had adjourned for the day, Brooks entered the old chamber, where he found Sumner busily attaching his postal frank to copies of his "Crime Against Kansas" speech.

Moving quickly, Brooks slammed his metal-topped cane onto the unsuspecting Sumner's head. As Brooks struck again and again, Sumner rose and lurched blindly about the chamber, futilely attempting to protect himself. After a very long minute, it ended.

Bleeding profusely, Sumner was carried away. Brooks walked calmly out of the chamber without being detained by the stunned onlookers. Overnight, both men became heroes in their respective regions.

Surviving a House censure resolution, Brooks resigned, was immediately reelected, and soon thereafter died at age 37. Sumner recovered slowly and returned to the Senate, where he remained for another 18 years. The nation, suffering from the breakdown of reasoned discourse that this event symbolized, tumbled onward toward the catastrophe of civil war.

Read the Report of the Select Committee appointed to investigate the assault.

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1851: Caning of Senator Charles Sumner -- May 22, 1856

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On this date, Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina, accompanied by Representative Laurence Keitt of South Carolina, severely beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane in the Senate Chamber. Brooks's violent act was in response to a speech in which Sumner attacked the institution of slavery and pro-slavery Senators such as Andrew Butler of South Carolina (Brooks's relative). Sumner's injuries were so serious that he had to take leave of his Senate duties for three years in order to recuperate. In the aftermath of the violent confrontation, Brooks was fined for assault by a Baltimore district court. Moreover, Senators called for an investigation of the incident and angry House Members demanded the expulsion of Brooks and Keitt. The House failed to garner the necessary two-thirds vote to expel Brooks, but it successfully censured Keitt. Both Congressmen resigned to protest their treatment by the House. In his resignation speech, Brooks said, "I should have forfeited my own self-respect, and perhaps the good opinion of my countrymen, if I had failed to resent such an injury by calling the offender in question to a personal account." South Carolina voters held Brooks and Keitt up as heroes, returning both men to Congress by special election to fill their own vacancies, while anti-slavery propagandists portrayed Sumner as a martyr for the cause of abolition. The event inflamed sectional tensions between northern and southern Members of Congress.

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South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks's Attack on Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives

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On this date, Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina, accompanied by Representative Laurence Keitt of South Carolina, severely beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane in the Senate Chamber. Brooks's violent act was in response to a speech in which Sumner attacked the institution of slavery and pro-slavery Senators such as Andrew Butler of South Carolina (Brooks's relative).

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Sumner was in the hospital for roughly 3 years. Brooks resigned for a short amount of time and had to pay fines but shortly after returned to politics. Both men were seen as hero's in their respective states for defending their perspectives and op ions.

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The Kansas-Nebraska act was passed with caused lots of debate regarding slavery. Charles Sumner made a speech in which he insulted Brooks' uncle who helped to create the act

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https://www.history.com/news/8-early-american-political-scandals

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On May 22nd, 1856 Preston Brooks assaulted Charles Sumner, in the senate chamber with his cane.

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A Senator from South Carolina

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The Sumner-Brooks scandal represented the extreme tension between the North and South through the personal and political connections people had with their side.

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Brooks assaulted Sumner with a cane so hard that it shattered.