see also slave power
Rhett, Robert Barnwell
Richardson, William
Richmond Enquirer
Richmond Whig
ridicule, see humor
right of petition
Rip-Raps
Rivers, Thomas
Rives, Alexander
Rives, Francis
Rives, John C.
Robinson, Charles
Root, Joseph
Rousseau, Lovell
Rousseau-Grinnell fight
rules of order:
and Benton-Foote conflict
and Compromise of 1850
and “Crime Against Kansas” speech
French as expert on
and gag rule debate
and honor code
in House vs. Senate
and Manual of Parliamentary Practice
personal explanations
purpose of
and Speaker role
as weapon
Rust, Albert
Sargent, John Turner
Schaumburg, James W.
Scott, Winfield
Seaton, William
secession
secession threats, see disunion threats
sectional degradation
sectional differences:
and bullying
Congress’s intensification of
and dueling
and patterns of violence
sectional distrust
sectionalism
sectional rights:
and Cilley-Graves duel
and Compromise of 1850
and disunion threats
and gag rule debate
and Kansas-Nebraska Act
Northern rights
Southern rights
and Sumner caning
and weapon-wearing
see also honor code
sectional tensions:
as crisis of communication
late 1850s heightening of
rise of
see also specific issues
self-defense
Seminole War
Senate, U.S.
conditions in
and disunion threats
and gag rule debate
interaction tone in
rules of order in
see also Sumner caning
Seward, William
Sherman, John
Slade, William
slaveholders:
as angry at antislavery advocacy
and Bleeding Kansas
conversation with
power of
violent culture of
see also bullying; specific people
Slave Power
slavery:
British abolition of
fear of slave insurrections
implicit violence of
petitions
as root of congressional violence
telegraph complications of
in Washington, D.C.
see also antislavery advocacy; Northern appeasement of Southerners; slaveholders
slavocrats/slavocracy
slavery expansion
see also Kansas-Nebraska Act; Missouri Compromise
Smith, F.O.J.
Smith, Perry
Smith, Samuel
Smith, William “Extra Billy”
“Song for Certain Congressmen” (Dough-face Song; Whitman)
sources
Southern Address
Southern advantages
Southern culture, see sectional differences
Southerners in Congress
see also bullies
Speaker
Stanbery, William
Stanly, Edward, in Wise conflict
Stephens, Alexander
Stevens, Thaddeus
street fights
Sumner, Charles
see also Sumner caning
Sumner caning (1856)
and anti-dueling law
and Bleeding Kansas
and bullying
congressional responses to
and “Crime Against Kansas” speech
and duel challenges
and fairness expectations
and free speech
impact of
investigation
location of
moderate responses to
press coverage of
public responses to
and Republican Party
scholarship on
Swanson, John
Swisshelm, Jane
telegraph
Texas
annexation of (1845)
“Then Let the Union Slide” (French)
Thirty-sixth Congress
duel challenges
speakership election (1859)
Sumner “Barbarism of Slavery” speech
weapon-wearing
Thompson, Waddy
threats, see bullying
Three-fifths Compromise
tobacco chewing
Toombs, Robert
Trumbull, Lyman
Tuck, Amos
Turney, Hopkins
Tyler, John
Union:
and Compromise of 1850
Congress as symbol of
emotional power of
and French’s political transition
and gag rule debate
and Jackson
nature of
as pact
and Republican Party
and sectional rights
Washington, D.C., as symbol of
United States Magazine and Democratic Review, The
Utah Territory
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Virginia Sentinel
“Vision, A” (French)
vote calls
Wade, Benjamin
Wallach, William “Dug”
Walsh, Mike
War of 1812
Washburn, Cadwallader
Washburn, Israel
Washburne, Elihu
Washington, D.C.
alcohol in
black residents of
character of
and Congress
French’s arrival in
and sectional diversity
slavery in
Southern culture of
symbolism of
with Southerners gone
and women
Washington, Lund, Jr.
Washington Telegraph
Washington Union
weapons
Webb, James Watson:
and bullying
and Cilley-Graves duel
in Gholson conflict
in Marshall duel
and Sumner caning
Webster, Daniel:
and conventional image of Congress
death of
and duel challenges
and gallery-sitters
oratory of
and press
wine cellar of
Weld, Theodore Dwight
Weller, John B.
Wentworth, John “Long John”
Whig Party:
and Cilley-Graves duel
and financial panics
formation of
and Jackson
and Northern appeasement of Southerners
and presidential campaign (1852)
and rules of order
and Wilmot Proviso
see also Northern appeasement of Southerners
White House
Whitman, Walt
Whitney, Reuben M.
Whittier, John Greenleaf
Wick, William
Wigfall, Louis
Wilmot Proviso (1846)
Wilson, Henry
Winthrop, Robert
Wirt, John
Wise, Charlotte
Wise, Henry
and alcohol
and Bell-Jarvis conflict
on Benton
as b
ully
character of
in Cilley conflict
and Cilley-Graves duel
and Compromise of 1850
death of
on dueling
and 1852 presidential campaign
and gag rule debate
and gallery-sitters
and Gholson conflict
and honor code
and Peyton-Whitney fight
and Pierce
and Reconstruction
reelection of
resignation of
and rules of order
and speakership conflict of 1859
in Stanly conflict
and Sumner caning
and Whig Party
Withington, William
women:
as gallery-sitters
and petitioning
and the press
and sectional differences
and Sumner caning
and Washington, D.C.
and working conditions
Woodward, Joseph
words, dangerous
see also free speech
working conditions, see congressional working conditions
Wright, Augustus
Yancey, William Lowndes
Young, Don
ALSO BY JOANNE B. FREEMAN
Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic
Alexander Hamilton: Writings
The Essential Hamilton: Letters & Other Writings
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joanne B. Freeman, a professor of history and American studies at Yale University, is a leading authority on early national politics and political culture. The author of the award-winning Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic and editor of The Essential Hamilton and Alexander Hamilton: Writings, she is a cohost of the popular history podcast BackStory. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Frontispiece
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
List of Illustrations
Author’s Note
Introductions: Tobacco-Stained Rugs and Benjamin Brown French
1. The Union Incarnate for Better and Worse: The United States Congress
2. The Mix of Men in Congress: Meeting Place of North and South
3. The Pull and Power of Violence: The Cilley-Graves Duel (1838)
4. Rules of Order and the Rule of Force: Dangerous Words and the Gag Rule Debate (1836–44)
5. Fighting for the Union: The Compromise of 1850 and the Benton-Foote Scuffle (1850)
6. A Tale of Two Conspiracies: The Power of the Press and the Battle over Kansas (1854–55)
7. Republicans Meet the Slave Power: Charles Sumner and Beyond (1855–61)
Epilogue: “I Witnessed It All”
Appendix A. A Word About Words: Party Abbreviations and Sectional Loyalties
Appendix B. A Note on Method: Constructing Fights and Deconstructing Emotions
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
Also by Joanne B. Freeman
A Note About the Author
Copyright
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
175 Varick Street, New York 10014
Copyright © 2018 by Joanne B. Freeman
All rights reserved
First edition, 2018
E-book ISBN: 978-0-374-71761-2
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Frontispiece: The caning of Sumner; detail of a print from the presidential election of 1856 (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)