And we certainly know that plantation owners never slept with their property, right?
Right.
To be doing something and have someone call you out on it is something we refer to as “speaking truth to power”. It is NOT a reason to beat anyone half to death.
It should have landed Brooks in prison, but it proves that “justice for me, but not for thee” was as rampant then as now.
Well certainly they did, but whether this particular one did cannot be discerned from an accusation, can it?
And even were the implied accusation true, it was still the sort of insult that would get a man killed in that era. Andrew Jackson would have simply shot the man for saying such a thing about him.
To be doing something and have someone call you out on it is something we refer to as “speaking truth to power”.
Well I think his speech can be summarized as "I hate slavery and I think people who support it are poopy heads."
Making it personal is where he went wrong. You make it personal, and people will take it personally.
It is NOT a reason to beat anyone half to death.
Sumner's friends knew very well what he was saying had the potential to get him killed. Sumner likely knew as well, but foolishly decided to keep spouting off his hatred and vitriol.
He f***ed around and found out.
It should have landed Brooks in prison, but it proves that “justice for me, but not for thee” was as rampant then as now.
Different era. People took besmirchment of their honor seriously back then. I doubt a DC court of that time period would have convicted Brooks.