HST 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Preston Brooks, Southern Democrats, Miscarriage
Document Summary
A tall and imposing figure, was a leading abolitionist- one of the few prominent in political life. Highly educated but cold, humorless, intolerant, and egotistical, he had made himself one of the most disliked men in the senate. Brooding over the turbulent miscarriage of popular sovereignty, he delivered a blistering speech titled. He condemned the pro-slavery men as "hirelings picked from the drunken spew and vomit of an uneasy civilization. " He also referred insultingly to south carolina and to its white-haired senator andrew butler, one of the best liked members of the senate. South carolina, who was the nephew of butler. Brooks walked up to sumner"s desk and beat him unconscious with a cane (treat like a master punishing a slave). Brooks became a hero in the south, and sumner became a martyr in the north. This violent incident helped touch off the war between the north and the south.
