Just a Little Bit of History Repeating

Am currently reading the (deservedly) much-lauded Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Right now, we're in the 1850's, caught up in the explosively turbulent period leading up the Civil War, specifically the caning of Charles Sumner.

I always forget the caning of Charles Sumner, as, I'm sure, do most people. I'm an enthusiastic Civil Way buff and yet, if pressed to name senators from the period I would maybe, maybe be able to hit upon the name Henry Clay or Daniel Webster. Maybe. And certainly not both. Sumner is less a person and more of an event, and even that event is more a title, as if it were a one-act play. "The Caning of Sumner." It rolls off the tongue and is just as easily dismissed as being something distantly remote, but when you actually pause to think about it...what the hell. A United States senator beat a fellow senator almost to death on the floor of the Senate. That's extraordinary, that that could happen. That that did happen. But then Doris Kearn Goodwin goes on to describe the reaction:

"More ominous still was the reaction of the distinguished Richmond Whig, a professed opponent of extremism on sectional issues. 'We are rejoiced at this, ' the Whig proclaimed. 'The only regret we feel is, that Mr. Brooks did not employ a horsewhip or a cowhide upon his slanderous back, instead of a cane. We trust the ball may be kept in motion. Seward and others should catch it next.' The Petersburg [Virginian] Intelligencer sounded a similar theme. 'If thrashing is the only remedy by which the foul conduct of the Abolitionists can be controlled...it will be very well to give Seward a double dose at least every other day until it operates freely on his political bowels...his adroit demagoguism and damnable doctrines are infinitely more dangerous to the country than the coarse blackguardism of the perjured wretch, Sumner.' The antipodal reactions of North and South, David Donald notes, made it 'apparent that something dangerous was happening to the American union when the two sections no longer spoke the same language, but employed rival sets of cliches to describe the Brooks-Sumner affair.'"
- Team of Rivals: the Political genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearn Goodwin

I'm not saying that we, as a country, are on the brink of a Civil War like that of 1860. I'm not even sure we're necessarily on the brink of a culture war, though that seems more likely. I'm just saying that this idea of language and talking, on being quick to condemn the other side and trumpet your own no matter what either does...doesn't it all sound a bit familiar? And shouldn't we maybe be more aware of that familiarity?

My man, Shelby Foote, said that "Any understanding of this nation has to be based, and I mean really based, on an understanding of the Civil War. I believe that firmly. It defined us," and I tend to agree. It was such a defining moment in our history, a turning point really, and one we are in some ways still recovering from. But it's not enough to look at the aftermath; we need to keep in mind how we got there. I'm highly doubtful we'll ever get to the point again where states decide to sucede from the Union and, if they did, I'm not sure a war would be declared (really, would we miss Texas? If Alaska goes AWOL, would anyone notice?) but that kind of animosity towards your own fellow citizens I think we're more than capable of. In some ways, we might be there already.

I didn't mean for this to be a history blog, or a political blog or a blog where I endlessly rehash the ideas of speech and fairness and whatever else I've been going about since I started this. It just became a perfect storm...the recent incidents of poltical violence here, the ongoing turmoil in Iran and a book on the Civil War. They all feed into each other and therefore color my thoughts which then results in me musing over the ideas in 500-word mini essays on blogger.

I'm big on awareness these days. Awarness of how you sound, of how the other side thinks, of context, of responsibility. I'm wearing green today, and will probably be for awhile, not because I think it makes a difference to the Iranina protestors that I, emma, U.S. citizen temping in an office park, am wearing green, but because maybe someone will notice and ask me and then I'll explain about Iran and then they'll know something they didn't before and at least become aware of the situation. That's the only way I can think of to help right now, but I hope it's at least something.