Episode 3: Blood on the Senate Floor

 (Boston Athenæum)

This week on Scandalized, we go back to the 1850s, and things get violent. A U.S. Senator clings to life after being beaten in the halls of Congress by one of his colleagues. The caning of Senator Charles Sumner; its causes, its consequences, and its familiar political divisions.

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Apple Podcasts, Spotify, BoiseStatePublicRadio.org

Episode Notes

Key sources used in the researching and writing of this episode include:

• C-Span Books: Q&A with Stephen Puleo

• “The Caning: The Assault that Drove America to Civil War” by Stephen Puleo

• “The Caning of Charles Sumner” by WilliamJames Hull Hoffer

• Senator Sumner’s “Crime Against Kansas” speech

• Southern newspapers reactions to the caning

• C-Span lecture by historian Harry Laver on Bleeding Kansas

• Dr. Joanne Freeman on the caning and political violence in the 1850s

• C-Span panel discussion on the political crisis of the 1850s (features Dr. Rachel Sheldon)