Respuesta :
B) the debate over slavery and its extension into the western territories
In the United States Senate, The Caning of Charles Sumner, or the Brooks–Sumner Affair, occurred on May 22, 1856. , In this speech, representative Preston Brooks (D-SC) criticized Senator Charles Sumner (R-MA), who was an abolitionist, in vengeance for the expression given by Sumner in which he relentlessly criticized slavery and slaveholders, including a relative of Brooks.
Two days later Brooks brutally beat and almost killed Sumner and it brought a clearly polarized response from the Americans on the question of the expansion of slavery in the United States.
It has been considered representative of the "breakdown of reasoned discussion that ultimately led to the American Civil War.