They had no right, as it seems to me, to prosecute me in these Halls; nor have you the right in law or under the Constitution, as I respectfully submit, to take jurisdiction over offenses committed against them.

Brooks was a fervent advocate of slavery. Brooks was tried in a District of Columbia court for the attack. Family
First marriage: Caroline Harper Means(1820–1843).

Sumner was seriously injured and unable to serve in the Senate for three years though eventually he largely recovered. This was in retaliation for an anti-slavery speech by Sumner in which Sumner attacked Brooks' uncle Senator Andrew Butler (Democrat-South Carolina). Brooks was a fervent advocate of slavery.