What did the Sumner-Brooks Affair of 1856 reveal about American politics at that time? The bribery of Senator Charles Sumner by Representative Preston Brooks showed that politicians were using corruption as a means to start a civil war.

The attack on Senator Charles Sumner by Representative Preston Brooks showed that the issue of slavery had divided politicians to the point of violence.

Senator Charles Sumner’s speech supporting Representative Preston Brooks showed that the North was becoming more united in its opposition to slavery.

Senator Charles Sumner’s speech denouncing Representative Preston Brooks showed that the North was trying to force the Southern states to leave the Union.

The Caning of Charles Sumner, or the Brooks–Sumner Affair, occurred on May 22, 1856, in the United States Senate chamber, when Representative Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist Republican from Massachusetts, 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 contributed significantly to the country's polarization over the issue of slavery. It has been considered symbolic of the "breakdown of reasoned discourse"[1] and the use of violence that eventually led to the Civil War.

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