Andrew Butler

Andrew Butler
United States Senator
from South Carolina
In office
December 4, 1846 – May 25, 1857
Preceded byGeorge McDuffie
Succeeded byJames H. Hammond
Judge of the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas
In office
December 6, 1833 – December 3, 1846
Member of the South Carolina Senate from Edgefield District
In office
November 22, 1824 – December 5, 1833
Personal details
Born
Andrew Pickens Butler

(1796-11-18)November 18, 1796
Edgefield, South Carolina, U.S.
DiedMay 25, 1857(1857-05-25) (aged 60)
Edgefield, South Carolina, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Susan Ann Simkins
Rebecca Harriett Hayne
ProfessionPolitician, lawyer, judge
Signature

Andrew Pickens Butler (November 18, 1796 – May 25, 1857) was an American lawyer, slaveholder, and United States senator from South Carolina who authored the Kansas-Nebraska Act with Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois.[1]

In 1856, abolitionist senator Charles Sumner gave a speech in which he insulted Butler's character. In response Preston Brooks, Butler's first cousin once-removed, caned Sumner on the Senate floor, nearly killing him.

  1. ^ Weil, Julie Zauzmer (January 10, 2022). "More than 1,800 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation". Washington Post. Retrieved May 5, 2024. Database at "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, January 13, 2022, retrieved April 29, 2024