Lessons From History Biographies

  Answering political disagreements with political violence poisons the entire system.             We live in a time when political violence is greatly feared across the country, and we especially feel it weigh down upon us with a presidential election imminent. From one side’s candidate getting shot at, to another side remembering the trauma of the January 6 th Riot, the national mood right now is sour and fearful, with many people believing a victory by the other side will result in permanent national degradation. It is a climate very similar to the 1850’s, when the growing power of the free North over national politics terrified and enraged the slaveholding South, and eventually the nation tore itself apart and embraced a bloody Civil War. One of the defining acts of that era was The Caning of Charles Sumner, an event that author Stephen Puleo wisely makes as the centerpiece of his excellent new book The Great Abolitionist: Charles Sumner and the Fight for a More Perfect Union .