In 1856 of Massachusetts gave a speech on the floor Senate that made insulting remarks about Southern senators.?

In 1856, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts gave a speech on the floor of the Senate that made insulting remarks about Southern senators. Sumner's speech, entitled "The Crime Against Kansas," was a scathing attack on the pro-slavery policies of the Pierce administration and the Southern senators who supported them. In the speech, Sumner referred to Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina as a "Don Quixote" and a "Sir Lancelot" who was tilting at windmills. He also accused Senator James Mason of Virginia of being a "bogus senator" and a "pretender." Sumner's speech was met with outrage by Southern senators, who accused him of being a traitor and a disgrace to the Senate. The following day, Senator Preston Brooks of South Carolina attacked Sumner on the Senate floor, beating him with a cane until he was unconscious. The Brooks-Sumner affair deepened the divisions between the North and the South and helped to bring about the Civil War.