14. Brooks and Sumner

ByPatrick Z

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Why do you think some people consider Preston Brooks courageous while others believe him cowardly? Similarly, why do you think similar perspectives exist toward Charles Sumner?

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Preston Brooks of South Carolina and Charles Sumner of Massachusetts were colleagues in the United States Senate in 1856. On May 22, as Charles Sumner was about to leave the Senate, he was confronted and beaten by Rupert Brooks. The attack was motivated by a speech criticizing the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The speech also personally attacked Stephen Douglas and Andrew Butler, the two sponsors of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Brooks considered the speech libelous toward South Carolina and dishonorable to his family (Butler being a relative). The attack has been described as the “breakdown of reasoned discourse.”

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