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Explanation: Shortly before the US Civil War, this event happened in the US Congress
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Brooks
Brooks [a slavery advocate Congressman] confronted Sumner [an abolitionist Congressman], who was seated at his desk, writing letters. He said, “Mr. Sumner, I have read your speech twice over carefully. It is a libel on South Carolina, and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine.” As Sumner began to stand up, Brooks hit Sumner over the head several times with his cane, made of thick gutta-percha with a gold head. Sumner was trapped under the heavy desk (which was bolted to the floor), but Brooks continued to strike Sumner until Sumner wrenched the desk from the floor in an attempt to escape.[2]: 9 By this time, Sumner was blinded by his own blood. He staggered up the aisle and collapsed unconscious.[2]: 9 Senator John J. Crittenden, Representative Ambrose Murray (R-NY), and others attempted to restrain Brooks before he killed Sumner but were blocked by Keitt, who brandished a pistol and shouted at the onlookers to leave Brooks and Sumner alone.[2]: 9 [24] Brooks continued beating Sumner until the cane broke, then quietly left the chamber with Keitt and Edmundson.[2]: 10 Brooks required medical attention before leaving the Capitol, because he had hit himself above his right eye with one of his backswings.[2]: 10
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American Party Congressman Anson Burlingame publicly humiliated Brooks in retaliation by goading Brooks into challenging him to a duel, accepting, and then watching Brooks back out.[29] After Burlingame made provocative remarks, Brooks challenged Burlingame, stating he would gladly face him in any “Yankee mudsill” of his choosing.[30] Burlingame, a well-known marksman, eagerly accepted, choosing rifles as the weapons and the Navy Yards in the border town of Niagara Falls, Canada, as the location to circumvent the U.S. ban on dueling.[29] Brooks, reportedly dismayed by both Burlingame’s enthusiastic acceptance and reputation as a crack shot, backed out by citing unspecified risks to his safety if he was to cross “hostile country” (the Northern states) to reach Canada.[29][31]
Well see, I can’t accept this duel on ground of that my opponent will kill m… I mean, unspecified risks to my safety.
They should’ve fucking shot him in the face even without the pretense of a dual.
Or at least criminally prosecuted him!
Honestly, this is yet another instance of liberals failing to fight back effectively against fascists. “Humiliation,” my ass – he nearly killed the guy and went entirely unpunished for it.
Edit: Rep. Keitt should’ve died that day too, as an accomplice to the crime.
They should’ve fucking shot him in the face even without the pretense of a dual.
Burlingame’s aim (ha) here was to goad him into a duel on Canadian soil so he could ice the motherfucker and not get arrested for it (it would be Canada’s problem - international law for individual criminality was a bit… spotty at the time). Unfortunately, had he killed him on US soil, he would be subject to the law of whatever US jurisdiction he was in, and even the most abolitionist jury was unlikely to nullify murder in cold blood, however justified by revenge for Brooks’ crimes. Especially not a DC jury.
Or at least criminally prosecuted him!
Prison as a mass-punishment was not well-established - it was still considered ‘cutting edge’ in the US despite widespread use in Britain for the past 40 years. He was tried, prosecuted, and convicted. Unfortunately, Brooks chose to ambush and assault Sumner with a cane precisely because DC had anti-dueling laws which would’ve made any punishment for harming Sumner much more severe had he made it ‘formal’. So he got off with a (large, but not financially backbreaking) fine under DC’s laws on assault instead.
The law is often fucked, and doubly so by the attempts of people to circumvent it.
As the mood in Congress became more hostile towards him after the attack (with a majority voting for expulsion, but not the needed supermajority), Brooks resigned ahead of the worsening mood to forestall any potential problems. His cretinous constituency, unfortunately, returned him in the next election in a landslide.
On the upside, he died unexpectedly before he could take his renewed seat, lmao
