Jerks in History

[J. Beckert]

(11-27-2013 04:36 PM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  Here's "the rest of the story" at least as far as concerns Preston Brooks.

"One of the most bitter critics of the attack was Sumner's fellow New Englander, Representative Anson Burlingame (Republican-Massachusetts). When Burlingame denounced Brooks as a coward on the floor of the House, Brooks challenged him to a duel, and Burlingame accepted the challenge. Burlingame, as the challenged party, specified rifles as the weapons, and to get around American anti-dueling laws he named the Navy Yard on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls as the site. Brooks, reportedly dismayed by both Burlingame's unexpectedly enthusiastic acceptance and his reputation as a crack shot, neglected to show up, instead citing unspecified risks to his safety if he was to cross "hostile country" (the Northern states) to reach Canada. He was subsequently mocked as a coward by Northerners for the rest of his life.[23]"

Burlingame's selection of the dueling site, which I believe he was entitled to under the "rules" of a duel, is ridiculous. The monotony of train travel in 1865 is detailed in this thread. (The caning was 9 years earlier)

http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...age-3.html

Brooks stated he couldn't arrive there without "without running the gauntlet of mobs and assassins, prisons and penitentiaries, bailiffs and constables." - and he was right. He most likely would have been killed before he even got close. It was very unreasonable and maybe even a little grandstanding by Burlingame. It's also been stated that Sumner milked his wounds for publicity for the Abolitionist cause. A Senate witness stated he was hit 3 times before the cane broke. Lincoln himself, in a letter to Lyman Trumbull, stated "The outrage upon Sumner and the occurrances in Kansas", "have helped us vastly". The woodcut of the incident also has a sectional spin.



"The print depicts a brutal senseless act, with leering faces in the crowd. A faceless barbarian (South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks, Democrat) mercilessly beats a gentle quill-wielding martyr (Senator Charles Sumner, Republican, Massachusetts), his blood dripping off the cane. Southern character is mocked, as if Mr. Brooks' actions represent a typical Southern predilection to violence; it caricatures every Southerner as a slave-beating overseer. The press of the country was no less adept at spin and hyperbole in 1856 than it is today."