Charles Sumner from the state of Massachusetts sits at his desk in the Senate, his head bowed over papers.

Sumner is no angel. His arrogance and condescension are well known to friends and foes alike,

but no one deserves what's about to happen to him.

With the chamber emptying, Representative Breston Brooks from South Carolina

strides in towards Sumner. In his hand, Brooks holds a heavy, gold-topped gutta-percha cane.

He brings it down on Sumner's head, drawing blood, stunning the man. Brooks strikes him again,

over and over, dozens of blows,

while Sumner tries to rise from his desk, blood streaming down his face.

Brooks's cane even breaks in his hand, but he keeps at it, beating the near senseless summer with the splintered ends.

The year is 1856, within what is supposed to be,

the greatest government on the face of the earth.

What happened in Washington, D.C., for things to have spiraled so drastically out of control?

How did the very politics of the federal government drive the nation apart,

even as so many politicians struggled to hold it together.

Good day, all. Happyer here. I'm Don Wildman. Thanks for punching us up.

At a summer party a few nights ago, I landed in a troubled conversation about American politics.

Both of us had much to say. Everyone does these days. For better or worse, this podcast series affords me the impulse to offer a perspective.

Well, in so many ways, I said, we've been here before.

Now, that may not be entirely accurate. For one thing, digital technology has profoundly altered American life.

But a politically divided America, nothing new. And prime evidence of this can be found in the raucous and radical brand of

Washington politics in the years leading up to Civil War. Some crazy events, which we'll explore

today with Brian Newman, managing director of the John L. Now the Third Center for Civil War History

...