Welcome to this throwback edition of the award-winning Best of Left podcast, where we

remember the past and choose to repeat it. I don't think anyone needs to hear an explanation

for why we've pulled an episode about political violence right now. Just pointing out that we

have been covering this beat for quite a while. This is episode 1526 from back in the fall of 2022,

because political violence in this country is anything but new. And so to look back,

to better understand the present, sources today include Inside Edition, AmeriCast,

the Tom Hartman program, System Check, the gray area, the David Packman Show, and In the Thick.

The January 6th Capitol Assault was not the first violent incident at the U.S. Congress.

According to Yale historian Joanne Freeman,

Between 1830 and 1860, there were at least 70 violent incidents on the House and Senate floor.

Guns being pulled, knives being pulled, fistfights, brawls,

canings. The caning of Charles Sumner, which happened in 1856, is pretty much the most famous

violent incident in the U.S. Congress. Basically, Charles Sumner, who was this very prominent

Massachusetts abolitionist, senator,

gave a really aggressive speech about Kansas.

This was the famous Bleeding Kansas moment when they were debating.

Was Kansas going to be a free state or a slave state?

Obviously, Sumner did not want it to be a slave state, but in the speech that he gave,

he insulted a number of congressmen, he kind of insulted the South. And one of the kinsmen of

one of the insulted congressmen, his name was Preston Brooks of South Carolina, and he was a

representative. He heard what happened, actually checked the newspaper to be sure that he had gotten the words right, and then decided that he was a representative, he heard what happened, actually checked the newspaper to be sure that he had gotten the words right, and then decided that he was going to punish Sumner for what he had said.

It was a matter of honor.

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