Saturday, September 12, 2009

A duel, slavery and the Civil War

Nearly two years before the first shots were fired in the Civil War, simmering hostilities over slavery erupted on a "field of honor" in California, where a pro-slavery judge mortally wounded an anti-slavery senator in a duel. At left, Sen. David Broderick.

The duel, 150 years ago Sunday, showed how political disagreements over slavery had become increasingly violent, culminating in 1861 when the war broke out.

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