<P> The Caning of Charles Sumner , or the Brooks -- Sumner Affair , occurred on May 22 , 1856 , in the United States Senate when Representative Preston Brooks ( D - SC ) attacked Senator Charles Sumner ( R - MA ) , an abolitionist , with a walking cane in retaliation for a speech given by Sumner two days earlier in which he fiercely criticized slaveholders including a relative of Brooks . The beating nearly killed Sumner and it drew a sharply polarized response from the American public on the subject of the expansion of slavery in the United States . It has been considered symbolic of the `` breakdown of reasoned discourse '' that eventually led to the American Civil War . </P>
<P> The Caning of Charles Sumner , or the Brooks -- Sumner Affair , occurred on May 22 , 1856 , in the United States Senate when Representative Preston Brooks ( D - SC ) attacked Senator Charles Sumner ( R - MA ) , an abolitionist , with a walking cane in retaliation for a speech given by Sumner two days earlier in which he fiercely criticized slaveholders including a relative of Brooks . The beating nearly killed Sumner and it drew a sharply polarized response from the American public on the subject of the expansion of slavery in the United States . It has been considered symbolic of the `` breakdown of reasoned discourse '' that eventually led to the American Civil War . </P>
who beat someone with a cane in congress
who beat someone with a cane in congress
Preston Brooks ( D - SC )
Preston Brooks ( D - SC )