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Originally posted by yellowline
Absolutely not. It was more of a symptom of the South than a reason. And if you can construe Southern aggression as Union fault, I think your conclusions are lacking.
From your source, Pat. How is that Sumner's fault? It's in very poor taste and I wouldn't have made those remarks, but he had First Amendment rights. Brooks infringed upon them. If he was so radical and such a lunatic, would anybody construe his remarks as libel?
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I don't think we in the 21st century can grasp what those in the 19th acted on personally. The Burr-Hamilton duel for example.
Sumner was a very bad actor in many ways, and was well known for it. His actions later when he wasn't restrained much attest to that. I suspect that the speech was one of those "straw that broke the camel's back" moments, but I don't really know.