Armed Members of Congress. Bloodshed in the Capitol. Talk of Secession. We’ve Seen It Before
January 25th, 2021

And while history doesn’t exactly repeat itself, as Mark Twain says, it often rhymes. To better understand our current moment, the run up to the Civil War gives us clues.
We were a country going through transformation. Members of congress were armed. One congressman beat up a member of the Senate. Bloodshed was a part of Washington. Succession was on everyone's mind. Lincoln, with all his skills, could not prevent the war. All he could do was try and manage it.
David Reynolds put all of this in perspective in his new work of history Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times
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My conversation with David Reynolds: