The Beating of a Senator and the Election of a President

The Kansas issued spilled over into Washington D.C. as well. Senator Charles Sumner gave a two day speech about Lawrence and the outrage he felt. In it, he attacked South Carolina's Andrew Butler who was not present at the time.



Two days later, Butler's nephew, Preston Brooks, attacked Sumner on the Senate floor. He beat him over 30 times with a gold tipped cane.



This left Sumner unable to return to the Senate for three years. It left Brooks a hero of the South, many Southerners sent him canes to show support for the beating.

Clearly, this pro slave, anti slave thing was extremely intense.

The Election of 1856 was approaching and guess what the main issue was?!?! If you guessed Kansas, you would be correct. It was Democrat James Buchanan v. Free Soiler John Fremont. Once again, fear was a good motivator, Buchanan said that if a Republican was elected the country would fall apart. People took this warning and Buchanan became the 15th president of the United States.

Buchanan supported Popular Sovereignty, but he wasn't a fan of all the violence.


People were hopeful that things in Kansas would finally settle doown, but really, why would they?

Stuff is Getting Real in Kansas..

The town of Lawrence became a center of anti slavery in the Kansas Territory. Near Lawrence, there were some shootings of pro slavery settelers, this of course brought in the gun wielding Missourians.

There were some troops nearby who waited for an order from the president to keep peace...this order never came. President Pierce was sorta kinda more into the pro slavery thing. He said the free soil government were rebels and Kansas charged them with...



So naturally, pro slavery people went to Lawrence and destroyed the town, set fires, and looted. General chaos ensued.


This became known as the Sack of Lawrence. The north was not happy.

Now it was the south's turn to not be happy.

A man by the name of John Brown moved to Kansas with his sons. He was a huge fan of abolition. Brown heard about the Sack of Lawrence and decided to act.

The thing about John Brown was that he was kind of crazy. He had crazy eyes that cannot possibly be demonstrated through a stick figure. Yes, its that crazy.

John Brown and company went to Pottawatomie Creek, drug pro slavery people from their cabis and executed them. Not just executed, but he did it with a broad sword. Yes...a broad sword.



John Brown was indeed crazy.

After the events at Lawrence and Pottawotomie, Kansas became enraged in a civil war. Lots of blood was spilled in Kansas, no compromises worked. The situation in Kansas was beyond repair.