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— 1856 lithograph in the Boston Athenæum collection

Samuel Dickson, an anti-slavery New Scotland doctor, served in the 38th Congress during which Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina used his cane or pieces of it after it splintered, to beat Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner on the Senate Floor after Sumner gave a passionate speech denouncing pro-slavery members. The incident came to represent the nationwide polarization before the Civil War. A historical marker recognizing Dickson is in the works.