Brooks was the representative for South Carolina and was a Democrat. He served from 1857 to 1859.
He was previously the representative for South Carolina’s 4th congressional district as a Democrat from 1855 to 1857; and the representative for South Carolina’s 4th congressional district as a Democrat from 1853 to 1855.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
Brooks faced an allegation of assaulting Sen. Sumner on the Senate floor after the Senate had adjourned for the day. On Jun. 2, 1856, a select committee recommended expulsion. On Jul. 14, 1856, the House of Representatives failed to expel him, 121-95. On Jul. 15, 1856, he resigned after the expulsion vote. On Aug. 1, 1856, he was re-elected to fill the vacancy he created.
| Jun. 2, 1856 | Select committee recommended expulsion. |
| Jul. 14, 1856 | House of Representatives failed to expel, 121-95 |
| Jul. 15, 1856 | Resigned after the expulsion vote. |
| Aug. 1, 1856 | Re-elected to fill the vacancy he created. |
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Dec 1853 to Jan 1857, Brooks missed 493 of 1,147 roll call votes, which is 43.0%. This is much worse than the median of 25.3% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Jan 1857. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
- Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
