Charles Sumner's Speech To The West Senate

On May 22nd, 1856, the “world's greatest deliberative body,” The United States Senate was met with chaos. On the floor of the U.S. Senate, a member of the House of Representatives, Preston Brooks, beat Senator Charles Sumner because of Sumner's hostility toward slavery. The caning of Charles Sumner is regarded as one of the most dramatic incidents in the history of the United States Congress, provoking strong emotions from citizens of the South, who approved of Brooks’ actions, as well as from citizens of the North and West, who disapproved. Charles Sumner was a radical abolitionist republican senator who hated the Kansas-Nebraska Act which helped slavery expand west by nullifying the Missouri Compromise. On May 19th, Sumner decided to give a speech to the United States Senate called “crime against Kansas” in which he argued Kansas should enter the union as a free state. During that speech, he insulted Andrew Butler, a senator from South Carolina. Andrew Butler’s family member, democratic representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina, who greatly supported slavery

The West disapproved because of “the brutality of Brooks” as “Mr. Sumner was sitting in an armchair…and had no opportunity to defend himself.” This shows that as well as the North, the West also believed Brooks’ acts were cruel. The West agrees with the North because its beliefs about slavery align more with the North’s beliefs. The West believes that the entire country has been “agitated” by the event and is asking for Brooks’ “immediate expulsion from the House.” This shows that the West is disgusted by Brooks and believes he should be punished for his actions by removing him from the House because they do not want someone who supports slavery to represent their nation. The West made it clear that they side with the North on not only this issue but also on the entire issue of