'What Democrats Can Learn From the Forgotten Impeachment of James Buchanan'

[L Verge]

We posted this on the Surratt House Museum's Facebook today:

On December 20, 1860, delegates of South Carolina’s special convention on the issue of secession officially adopted a unanimous resolution to withdraw from the union of states that made up the United States of America. Word of South Carolina’s decision reached the U.S. House of Representatives on December 24 in the form of a letter from several of the delegates. Following the reading of this letter the majority of southerners in the House walked out of session and returned to their own states, many to attend their own secession conventions. Meanwhile, in the dead of night on December 26, Major Robert Anderson and his small command stealthily abandoned their post at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island and proceeded to Fort Sumter on small boats, setting the stage for the opening shots of the American Civil War on April 12, 1861.

No matter what "side" you are currently on, our 1860 ancestors had a great deal more to worry about than the political power plays of today...