Reflections on "The Caning"

The Caning-The Assault That Drove America To Civil War is certainly the kind of book that wins the Pulitzer Prize. Written by Stephen Puelo, it focuses on the historical caning assault of Massachusetts anti-slavery Senator Charles Sumner in 1856 on the floor of the United States Senate Chamber by pro-slavery U. S.  Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina. The over arching theme of the book is that the assault on Senator Sumner was the first blow of the Civil War. Puelo sets forth in great detail the differences in background, education, personality of the two men and their views about slavery. Brooks is presented as the more likable personality and Sumner more admirable for his anti-slavery stance. The caning incident intensified the political polarization of the North and South on the issues of free speech and extension of slavery to the western territory.


The book is engaging and packed with historical events, the Dred Scott Supreme Court Decision, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, John Brown's Raid, Abraham Lincoln and the election of 1860.

In addition to a brain injury and perhaps PTSD, Senator Sumner's recovery was long and painful.
Victims are not responsible for the violence inflicted on them. However,  Southerners felt that Representative Brooks was justified in his assault on Senator Sumner to defend a code of honor for Sumner's verbal insult to his kin, Senator Andrew Butler of Edgefield, South Carolina, and way of life in Sumner's "Crime Against Kansas" speech.

Slavery was a sin against God and a crime against humanity. Sumner accurately perceived slave holding as a barbaric act that made barbarians of the slave holders. Questions to ponder:
What made a minority of abolitionists defy slavery and turn the tide of history? To what extent a "southern gentlemen" would defend his right to human slaves as property?

I was interested in reading the book because of the time period, the caning incident, the political antagonists, and Edgefield County, South Carolina, the home of Representative Brooks. I am a descendant of slaves of Edgefield County, most of whom are lost to history. Edgefield was the center of political power in South Carolina. Ten of its state governors came from Edgefield County including Senator Strom Thurmond.  Although I have never visited Edgefield County, I understand
that neo-slavery existed there in the 1950s.