Join Paul Quigley to discover what prompted Preston Brooks' attack on Charles Sumner and how it deepened the nation's division over slavery. In 1856, South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks caned Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the U.S. Capitol. The attack, which left Sumner unconscious, increased tensions across the nation and pushed the country closer to civil war. Join Paul Quigley as he explores what motivated Brooks' actions and what it meant for an increasingly polarized nation. Paul Quigley is the James I. Robertson, Jr. Associate Professor of Civil War History in the History Department at Virginia Tech, where he also …