On May 22, 1856, Preston Brooks, a young representative from South Carolina, confronted Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts during a visit to the upper chamber. Sumner, known for his fiery abolitionist orations, had recently given a speech leveling insults at Brooks's kinsman Senator Andrew P. Butler, including that he consorted with 'the harlot, Slavery.' Suddenly, Brooks began raining down blows on Sumner with a gutta-percha cane while an accomplice warded off lawmakers who tried to intervene. Sumner's long legs were trapped under his bolted-down desk; the best he could do was raise his arms. Brooks beat him until the cane splintered in his hand, and then, even after the desk was wrenched free, he kept going. Finally, bystanders pulled the men apart. Sumner barely escaped death; his head and shoulders were slashed to the bone. One of America's best legal thinkers had just been chastised like a farm animal. The attack on Sumner poured gasoline on a smoldering fire. More than 1...
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