Caning of Charles Sumner PDF

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This is about the book The Caning of Charles Sumner. It discusses the representation of the attack and symbolism of the North and South divide. It discusses what was going on politically and economically in America during the Industrial Revolution. ...

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While today arguments based on North versus South are made jokingly years ago they ended in acts of violence. Everyone knows about the civil war and how it affected slavery; however, not many know about the events that led up to it. While what happened just a few years prior to president Lincoln getting inaugurated did not cause the war it did highlight the problems between the two regions of the rifting nation. On May 22, of 1856, South Carolina’s Democratic Congressman Preston S. Brooks entered the United States Senate and used his cane to strike down the Republican Senator of Massachusetts, Charles Sumner. Prior to the attack on Sumner, the Massachusetts Senator had given a speech entitled “The Crime against Kansas” that Brooks perceived as insulting his cousin, Senator Andrew P. Butler, as well as the entirety of the slave supporting south. This act of violence served as a physical representation of the North-South divide that was asking place at the time. There were many different parts that went into describing the causes of the civil war. It was all boiled down to sectionalism: North versus South, free labor versus slavery, and industrial and commercial versus agricultural and rural. At the time people saw the differing regions as separate nations with different beliefs. Slavery was legal until the year 1780 when justice William Cushing reminded the jury of Commonwealth v. Jennison that “…all men are born free and equal- and that every subject is entitled to liberty, and to have it guarded by the laws…and in short is totally repugnant to the idea of being born slaves. This being said, I think the idea of slavery is inconsistent with our own conduct and constitution”(17). Still the nation could not come to an agreement despite their own justices calling out the hypocrisy of it all. When it came to the industrial revolution Massachusetts was ahead in technology, transportation, communication, and commercial advancements. Due to their textiles and clothing

industries the state was the main destination for factory workers; of which began with farm girls before switching to immigrants. Instead of the old apprentice system they state was employing hundreds to work in factories that were hydroelectric. All of the machinery was an investment knowing that “Massachusetts had seen the future and it was in mass production”(18). This change in production was benefiting Boston with the incoming wealth and the new transformation was turning the traditional conservative nation into a new age. In this new age came Eli Whitney’s cotton gin. The invention would destroy the profit that the slave states made by using slave labor as well as internal slave trade and new generations. These differing opinions on the technological advancements continued the rift between the North and South. The media played a big role and still does. Public opinion, politics, society, and culture are all affected by the media and how it is portrayed. The goal of the media is the gain a following and shape the public’s minds to fit what they sell. How the events play out of course also affects how people believe and view the media. All get questioned as coverage of the caning as well as the upcoming elections. When it came to defending why Brooks attacked Sumner he claimed it was a justified punishment of “stealth, swiftness, and completeness”(130). The way in which Brooks planned his actions was that of a man that new he would face consequences. Years later the secessionists’ did the same in viewing themselves as simply defending their territory. Through the caning many things came to light. America was changing whether or not the people changed with it. Politicians decisions held more impact than we know. The power and influence that comes with honor. There is no issue that should go unattended as discovered by those in the room on May 22, 1856....