Sure, we live in divisive times - I do not think anyone denies that. But I guess it could be worse. After all, back in the 1860s, chained dogs had to be brought onto the Senate floor to deter Senators from jumping at each other's throats. Crazy, right? But, perhaps warranted - just ask Senator Charles Sumner, who on May 22, 1856, was physically attacked on the Senate floor by Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina in retaliation for a fiery anti-slavery speech Sumner had given days earlier - an attack that left him inches from death.
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