HIT HIM AGAIN
Senator Charles Sumner is beaten with a cane!
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Senator Charles Sumner
Bleeding Sumner
Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts gave a two day speech which he named, "The Crime Against Kansas." "It is the rape of a virgin territory, compelling it to the hateful embrace of slavery.'" He continued his speech by mentioning Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina. In his speech, Sumner was making fun of a medical disorder that Senator Butler suffered. Two days after his speech, Senator Butler's nephew, Preston Brooks, entered Sumner's Senate office. Seeing Sumner at his desk, Brooks ran towards him and began to hit, and beat the senator with a cane. He wanted to use the same method slaveholders towards slaves. Brooks then left the Senate chamber, leaving Sumner with his head bleeding copiously from the beating, and the blood covering his clothes.