In the years leading up to the Civil War, the floors of Congress could, at times, resemble

a battlefield.

The divisions over slavery that would eventually lead the nation to take up arms against itself

were a particular source of conflict.

One of the most notorious attacks was on Massachusetts Senator and abolitionist Charles

Sumner.

His two-day speech to crying a law allowing slavery in new territories so irked South Carolina

representative Preston Brooks that he resorted to violence.

A day later, he approached Sumner at his desk, grabbed the cane he used due to injuries

from a previous duel, and beat Sumner until the Senator was unconscious before walking

out of the chamber, unopposed.

Sumner survived the attack, and both he and Brooks became heroes to their respective

sides of the slavery debate.

Two years earlier, Sumner had helped found the Republican Party.

This guiding principle was the abolitionism that would lead to Sumner's caning.

Today's GOP doesn't have that single unifying idea, and there's been no post-mortem

of the 2020 election to identify a new path forward.

Instead, Republicans are doubling down on culture wars and look likely to return to the man

who many in the party refused to accept lost the presidency in 2020, Donald Trump.

This is Chex and Balance.

I'm John Prado, the economist's US Head of Tepp.

Each week, we take one big theme, shaping American politics and explore it in depth.

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