Final answer:
Southern representative Preston Brooks caned northern senator Charles Sumner in the Senate chamber in 1856 after Sumner criticized slavery and Brooks's cousin. Brooks's actions were hailed by Southerners but condemned by Northerners, escalating tensions leading up to the Civil War.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Caning of Charles Sumner
On May 22, 1856, the southern representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina caned northern senator Charles Sumner in the Senate chamber.
This violent incident occurred after Sumner delivered a speech strongly condemning slavery, which included criticism of South Carolina and its senator, Andrew Butler, who was also Preston Brooks's cousin.
Brooks's attack on Sumner was a result of this personal attack and his view on Sumner being unworthy of a duel. The caning significantly heightened tensions between the North and South, as southerners celebrated Brooks's actions, while northerners saw Sumner as a martyr for the antislavery cause.
The aftermath of this event deepened the divide between the North and South. Brooks resigned but was reelected unanimously in South Carolina, receiving gifts of canes bearing inscriptions such as "Hit Him Again".
This brutal act was symbolic of the barbarity of the slave system and the suppression of free speech, boosting the antislavery movement in the North and contributing to the escalating sectional conflict leading up to the Civil War.