Two years earlier, Butler, along with Stephen Douglas, a
Senator from Illinois, had helped write the Kansas-Nebraska act, which created
the Kansas Territory; by 1856, the question of Statehood was being discussed,
with particular emphasis on whether or not slavery would be legal within
Kansas. When the territory was created,
Butler and Douglas, along with the other authors and supporters of the bill had
decided to let the citizens of Kansas decide the issue of slavery for
themselves. In a microcosm of the debate
that was dividing the country (and would later lead to the Civil War), a series
of violent and lethal clashes (now referred to as the Bleeding Kansas crisis)
had erupted between pro- and anti-slavery activists. Sumner blamed the authors of the bill for the
violence because they opted to leave the issue of slavery up to the citizens
instead of making a choice themselves.
In addition to attacking their bill and the institution of slavery, he
attacked them personally, using lurid insults and allusions to cast them as
idiots, amoral hypocrites, and sexual deviants.
Brooks was understandably furious at Sumner for berating his cousin, and
he went to the Senate to seek revenge for what he deemed nothing but
slander.
What followed was one of the most shocking incidents to ever
occur in any part of our government.
