1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History class from how 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: I'm Katie Lambert and I'm Sarah Dowdey and Sarah and 4 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,759 Speaker 1: I have decided that this is the fall of angry outbursts. 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: We have been spending this morning Kanye buying the house 6 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,120 Speaker 1: Stuff Works homepage for each other. It's pretty entertaining. And 7 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: then we have Serena Williams and then of course South 8 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: Carolina Congressman Joe. I'll let you finish, Katie. I like 9 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:37,239 Speaker 1: you and I'm gonna let you finish. That one's for you, Kanye. 10 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: But probably the biggest angry outburst of the season has 11 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:46,560 Speaker 1: been that of Congressman Joe Wilson against President Obama during 12 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: his speech on healthcare when he yelled you lie. Which 13 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: we were all aboves for a few days about that one, 14 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: and all the accounts of this have called it an 15 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: unprecedented breach of protocol, but it reminded us some other 16 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: interesting events in history where protocol was severely breached, and 17 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: that would be the caning of Senator Charles Sumner by 18 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 1: Representative Preston Brooks in May eighteen fifty six, and before 19 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: we get too much into the caning. It helps to 20 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: know a little bit about the background. And this violent 21 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: beating was the result of a speech that Sumner gave 22 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: called Crimes against Kansas from the Senate floor, and back 23 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,040 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty four, a couple of years before he 24 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:35,040 Speaker 1: gave this speech. We have the Kansas Territory, which isn't 25 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: a state yet, but it's the perfect candidate for statehood. 26 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: And Southerners thought the North was overwhelming them economically and 27 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,840 Speaker 1: they were really wanting a new slave state. But unfortunately 28 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: for them, that's impossible because of where the Kansas Territory 29 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: is situated, it falls outside of the boundaries permitted for 30 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: slavery by the Missouri Compromise. So if Kansas becomes state 31 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: under the Missouri Compromise, it's going to be a free state. Right. 32 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: And this really bothers a senator from Illinois, Senator Stephen Douglas, 33 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:14,360 Speaker 1: who you might know for his later debates with Abraham Lincoln. 34 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: Now it's not like Senator Stephen Douglas is really for 35 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:25,440 Speaker 1: slavery or particularly invested in this in a political way. 36 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: It's more about his own business interests, all about the money, yeah, 37 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 1: and his personal political ambition. So he knows that if 38 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: the Kansas Territory goes up for statehood, there's no way 39 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,119 Speaker 1: Southern Democrats are going to vote for it because they're 40 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,959 Speaker 1: not going to allow another free state to enter the Union. 41 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: So he goes to them to make a deal. He 42 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: needs their support anyways, He's planning on running for president 43 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: in two years and needs some Southern Democrats support. But 44 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: he goes to them and tells them that he'll help 45 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: them repeal the Missouri Compromise and get Kansas in as 46 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: a slave state, and in return, he's going to get 47 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: new territory to run his railroad through, which is what 48 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: he's after all along, and bring in the money to 49 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 1: his terminus in Chicago. Gotcha, So they set up the 50 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 1: Kansas Nebraska Act in eighteen fifty four, Senator Andrew Butler 51 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: of South Carolina along with Senator Stephen Douglas, and the 52 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: Kansas Nebraska Act provided for the territorial organization of Kansas 53 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:33,799 Speaker 1: and Nebraska under popular sovereignty. Basically, you could have a vote, 54 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: and this ends up with Kansas being flooded by pro 55 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: slavery and anti slavery people. These aren't folks who just oh, Wow, 56 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: I never realized how much I wanted to live in Kansas. 57 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: They're moving there for their political agendas. So the Northerners 58 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: actually um move anti slavery settlers into Kansas, and this 59 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 1: really outrages uh, this really outrages pro slavery people in 60 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,559 Speaker 1: Missouri who are upset that these Yankees are moving in 61 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: to Kansas to try to sway the vote, so they 62 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: fled the state too. These are called the border Ruffians, 63 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,799 Speaker 1: and UM, a lot of violence happens, and the Ruffians 64 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: actually end up winning this rigged, really kind of corrupt election. 65 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 1: And this period this is all known as Bleeding Kansas 66 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 1: because it is so incredibly violent. This is setting a 67 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:30,839 Speaker 1: stage for the later training. But people are getting in 68 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: physical altercations about whether we should go with slavery or 69 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: go against it, which might remind you a little bit 70 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: of the Healthcare reformed town halls right now. But they 71 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:44,480 Speaker 1: were getting in fights. They were pulling out their guns 72 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: and shooting people. This was not an amicable debate or 73 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: even you know, an angry political debate. This was a violent, 74 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: physical skirmish. You actually have a small civil war here. 75 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: The anti slavery people who don't accept the vote end 76 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: up setting up a provisional free state government, which is 77 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:05,600 Speaker 1: denounced by the President, and you just have all this violence. 78 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,680 Speaker 1: This is around the same time that John Brown, the 79 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:13,679 Speaker 1: radical abolitionist, is killing people. And by October eighteen fifty 80 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:18,039 Speaker 1: six you have about two people dead in Kansas. So 81 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: this brings us back. And it is May nineteenth, eighteen 82 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: fifty six, and Charles Sumner gets up to give a 83 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 1: speech to the Senate, and he talks for two days 84 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:32,280 Speaker 1: in his Crimes against Kansas speech and specifically calls out 85 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: Stephen Douglas of Illinois, who we mentioned, and Andrew Butler 86 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,719 Speaker 1: of South Carolina, who isn't present, so he can pretty 87 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 1: much say whatever he'd like about Butler, and he does 88 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: not spare any words. He charges him with and I quote, 89 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: taking a mistress who, though ugly to others, is always 90 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: lovely to him, though polluted in the sight of the world, 91 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:54,480 Speaker 1: is chased in his sight, I mean the harlot slavery. 92 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: So making fun of his image as a gentleman and 93 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:02,359 Speaker 1: someone who's chivalris Southern gentleman, right, I'm saying he's, you know, 94 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:06,279 Speaker 1: captive to the charms of a prostitute called slavery. He 95 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: also gave a history of the struggle, what's been going 96 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: on with slavery in the country, and then a rundown 97 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 1: of all the types of apologies for slavery that people give, 98 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:16,039 Speaker 1: you know, the ones that are absurd, the ones that 99 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 1: are infamous, the ones that are tyrannical. And the reaction 100 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: to his speech is more than a little heated. Lewis 101 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,359 Speaker 1: Cass of Michigan calls him Unamerican and unpatriotic, which again 102 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 1: probably sounds familiar with the political debate in the past year. 103 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: James Murray Mason of Virginia calls him a liar in 104 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: the New Cane. Douglas himself so that Sumner wanted to 105 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: provoke them all into kicking him so he could get sympathy, 106 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: and that he was repudiating the Constitution. So Sumner fires 107 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:44,040 Speaker 1: back and says the cast is disloyal to the founding 108 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:48,279 Speaker 1: fathers and the Constitution. Sumner says Mason has plantation manners, 109 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:51,760 Speaker 1: and he does not mean that as a compliment. And 110 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:56,240 Speaker 1: to Douglas, Sumner says, the noisome, squat and nameless animal 111 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:59,040 Speaker 1: to which I now refer is not a proper model 112 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: for the American cent itor. Will the Senator from Illinois 113 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,160 Speaker 1: take notice? So things get nasty, but I like how 114 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: they still have to follow rules and saying will the 115 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: Senator from Illinois instead of you know that noisome animal? 116 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 1: Mr Douglas. This speech really upset Representative Preston Brooks, who 117 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: took it as an assault not only to his home 118 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: state of South Carolina, but to his kinsman. And he's 119 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: so angry that he wants to fight Sumner, but he 120 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 1: says that Sumner isn't a gentleman, so they're not in 121 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: the same footing, and he's not going to challenge him 122 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: to a duel, which is what you would normally do 123 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: in those circumstances. Instead, he's going to treat him like 124 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: the dog he is, So Bricks decides instead he will 125 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 1: cane Sumner. So the Senate has adjourned early on this day, 126 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: and Sumner is still at his desk, which is bolted 127 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: to the ground, which is important to note because this 128 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 1: will turn out to be really bad. Actually, he's applying 129 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: his frank to copies of the speech, which must have 130 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,080 Speaker 1: just even further outraged Brooks when he approached him. And 131 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: Brooks shows up with his friends at the Senate chambers 132 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: and comes up behind Sumner, doesn't warn him or anything, 133 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: and just wax him in the head with a gut 134 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: a purchase cane and proceeds to beat him violently until 135 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: Sumner is unconscious and covered in blood. Sumner makes weak 136 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 1: attempts to defend himself, but if you're hit on the 137 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: head with a cane unaware, what can you really do? 138 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:30,680 Speaker 1: And he's sort of stuck at his desk and eventually 139 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:32,560 Speaker 1: he crawls out of it and makes his way out, 140 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: but Brooks is still hitting him till the man is 141 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: unconscious and has to be carried out, and there were bystanders, 142 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: no one does anything. Brooks walks out of the Senate 143 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,199 Speaker 1: at the end of it all, and what happens. You 144 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:47,600 Speaker 1: might think he was horribly censured, but actually the South 145 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:51,720 Speaker 1: is thrilled with Brooks. People send him inscribed canes because 146 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:55,680 Speaker 1: he actually broke his other one beating Charles Sumner. People 147 00:08:55,679 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: throw dinner parties for him and gives speeches in his honor. 148 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,720 Speaker 1: Favorite quote is from the Richmond Inquirer, and I got 149 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: this quote from a book by Anna Lawrence DAWs that says, 150 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 1: we trust other gentlemen will follow the example of Mr Brooks, 151 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:11,480 Speaker 1: that so a curb may be imposed upon the truculence 152 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: and audacity of abolition speakers, if need be, let us 153 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: have a caning or cow hiding every day. If the 154 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: worst come to the worst, so much the sooner, so 155 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 1: much the better. And then they basically went on to 156 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: say that because these men, these antislavery people, weren't gentlemen, 157 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:29,680 Speaker 1: you shouldn't treat them as such, and you should treat 158 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:32,439 Speaker 1: them as the dogs they were. But some people were 159 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:34,960 Speaker 1: sticking up for Sumner too. He became a hero in 160 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,080 Speaker 1: his own state, and one of his colleagues, Anson Burlingham, 161 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 1: challenges Brooks to a duel, calls him a coward for 162 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: caning a man on the head, and um Brooks ends 163 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,680 Speaker 1: up declining because the duels at Niagara Falls, and people 164 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 1: say Brooks he's basically just a bully. He's afraid of 165 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: anybody who might be a better shooter than him, or 166 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: who's bigger than him. And other people speak from the 167 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:06,439 Speaker 1: Senate floor about Brooks's attack, calling it brutal, murderous, and cowardly. 168 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 1: And the man who said that, Wilson Sutherners, proposed that 169 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 1: he'd be beaten as well, and the speaker or had 170 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 1: to talk them out of it, and they then challenged 171 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: him to a duel and he said no. So things 172 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:21,319 Speaker 1: just keep escalating. Was keen on caning, who was keen 173 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:24,360 Speaker 1: on getting really physical about this, But it did change 174 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:29,239 Speaker 1: public sentiment. It gave the North something of a personal 175 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,800 Speaker 1: cause to rally around someone symbolic who could stand for 176 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: all the things that they wanted to fight. So the 177 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: Senate appoints a committee to look into the Brooks incident 178 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,520 Speaker 1: and they handed off to the House and they can't 179 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 1: get the two thirds the needed to expel Brooks, which 180 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: is a bit surprising. It is surprising that they would 181 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 1: accept caning of one of their own on the floor. 182 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: That seems like it opens up a world of things 183 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: you really don't want to happen in your workplace. But 184 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:03,439 Speaker 1: Brooks was censured. He ends up giving a speech where 185 00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 1: he's just trumping himself up and he resigns in It's 186 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:12,319 Speaker 1: fine three but he's reelected immediately. People of South Carolina 187 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:17,079 Speaker 1: just love this guy, and uh it doesn't do much 188 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:20,920 Speaker 1: good though, because he dies of the group in eighteen 189 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,640 Speaker 1: fifty seven, which is a bad respiratory ailment. For those 190 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:28,439 Speaker 1: who haven't heard of it. So there's a lesson here. 191 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,520 Speaker 1: If you came someone until they're unconscious because you don't 192 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 1: like their political views, you will die of the croup 193 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:37,679 Speaker 1: he heard here first. Meanwhile, Sumner is kept away from 194 00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:42,559 Speaker 1: the Senate for three years due to his canning stained injury. Serious. 195 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:46,240 Speaker 1: It wasn't like he got hit, he got beaten broken. 196 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:51,400 Speaker 1: But he's re elected to Massachusetts and serves for eighteen years. 197 00:11:52,679 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 1: So I think we know who won that one, and 198 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: it wasn't the man who died at the age of 199 00:11:55,840 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 1: thirty seven. And what of Kansas, which was the center 200 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:05,480 Speaker 1: of this debate anyways, It's eventually admitted as a free 201 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 1: state in January of eight six one. And this is 202 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: just a sign of the rising tensions that end up 203 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:14,679 Speaker 1: leading to the Civil War. And you can learn more 204 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,719 Speaker 1: about the Civil War and other topics on the homepage, 205 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:22,000 Speaker 1: where you'll also find Katie's blog at www dot how 206 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. For more on this and thousands 207 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 1: of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Let 208 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:32,440 Speaker 1: us know what you think, send an email to podcast 209 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com, and be sure to 210 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: check out the stuff you missed in history Class blog 211 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 1: on the how Stuff Works dot com homepage