Charles Sumner assaulted in the Senate
Two days after delivering his “Crime against Kansas” speech, abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner was physically attacked by Representative Preston Brooks on the floor of US Senate. Sumner had denounced a number of southern senators in his speech. It took Sumner three years to recover from the beating and return to his Senate seat. Brooks became a hero in the South; merchants in Charleston, South Carolina, bought Brooks a new cane, inscribed, “Hit him again.” In the North, Sumner became a martyr to the cause of freedom, and a million copies of Sumner’s “Crime against Kansas” speech were printed.
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Collection Objects
- Adams, John Quincy (1767-1848), to Aaron Hobart
- Bean, Roy (1825-1903), [Order requiring Roy Bean to answer charge of assault with intent to kill]
- Buchanan, James (1791-1868), Pardon of Thomas Wilson, convicted of 2 counts of assault weapon against crewmen on the Schooner ”Exchange.”
- Hunter, R. M. T. (Robert Mercer Taliaferro) (1809-1887), Speech of Hon. Robert M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, on the resolutions of the Massachusetts legislature concerning the assault on Mr. Sumner.
- Jackson, Andrew (1767-1845), [Presidential authority to the Secretary of State to affix the seal to the paper remitting unto the William Davis the fine and costs imposed on him]