U.S.
Senator Charles Sumner served from 1851-74, representing the
Commonwealth of
Massachussetts. Sumner was an
abolitionist,
Yale-educated, and was one of the most hated men in the
United States Senate in the days before the
American Civil War, due to the fact that he had an
ego the size of
Texas. Served first as a member of the
Free Soil party, then as a
Republican when the
Free-Soilers faded away.
Sumner's place in history was secured by the beating he received from Rep. Preston Brooks (D-SC), on 22 May 1856, after Sumner's two-day tirade against pro-slavery Kansans turned into a personal attack on Sen. Andrew Butler (D-SC), Brooks's uncle. (More details about the beating can be found at the Preston Brooks node.) Sumner's seat in the Senate was left vacant by Massachussetts until Sumner was medically capable of returning to service, as a memorial to the debasing effects of slavery.