Abstract
JN May 1856, South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks physically assaulted Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner in retaliation for Sumner's The Crime against Kansas. Arguing for the admission of Kansas to the Union as a free state, Sumner's lengthy Senate address rehearsed Republican party interpretations of the history of Kansas since its organization as a territory in 1854. Brooks's aggressive response convinced many Northerners of the violence inherent in Southern society and bolstered the ranks of the Republican party.' Despite the notoriety of the event, however, Sumner's speech has received little detailed attention from scholars. Nor has it been consid-
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