Hello and welcome to a history of the United States. Episode 190. You looking at me?

Last time out, we started up our tour of the world in 1800 by looking at the foundations of Washington, D.C.,

and the early history of the banking sector, which was rapidly commercializing American society.

Today, I want to talk about one of the trends in early American society,

and that is the spread of violence.

It's something we've touched on in a couple of ways,

some prejudicial, such as the lamenting of the Federalists

about how unruly the lower classes were not knowing their place into size and some of it organised, such as the Whiskey Rebellion on the Pennsylvania frontier.

Today I'm hoping we can scratch through these layers to get a sense of what it was really like to be an American

at the turn of the 19th century. Now, at this point, I'm going to do something I don't normally

do, a content warning. This is for a couple of reasons. The first is I know from messages,

from listeners, that people will often listen to this show with children, maybe while driving.

If you want to pause the episode, now is your chance.

The second is that some things we're going to touch on today are sensitive topics which could

have a triggering effect, particularly if you're not prepared for it and are listening to the show

out in public. So, this episode involves talking about violence, including murder, suicide, domestic

abuse and sexual assault.

If you'd like to skip today's episode or come back to it when you're in a safe space, now is the time to stop.

Okay, happy for me to continue. Good.

The first thing to say is that America, particularly in the south and on the frontier, was a violent place, which certainly shocked international visitors.

Physician and author, Daniel Drake, recalled his childhood in Kentucky when he described the common fighting moves.

Scratching, pulling hair, choking, gouging out each other's eyes, and biting off each other's

...