Remembering History: United States Senator Charles Sumner had been missing from the Senate Chambers for four years, after having been beaten almost to death by South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks. The speech titled “The Barbarism of Slavery” delivered on June 4th 1860 was the last speech made in Congress before the Civil War, and until emancipation was discussed. It was covered in its entirety in the leading newspapers, as well as being issued in several pamphlets.

United States Senator Charles Sumner had been missing from the Senate Chambers for four years, after having been beaten almost to death by South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks. The speech titled “The Barbarism of Slavery” delivered on June 4th 1860 was the last speech made in Congress before the Civil War, and until emancipation was discussed. It was covered in its entirety in the leading newspapers, as well as being issued in several pamphlets.

United States Senator Charles Sumner had been missing from the Senate Chambers for four years, after having been beaten almost to death by South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks. The speech titled “The Barbarism of Slavery” delivered on June 4th 1860 was the last speech made in Congress before the Civil War, and until emancipation was discussed. It was covered in its entirety in the leading newspapers, as well as being issued in several pamphlets.