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A deep dive into the political history of the United States, hosted by President Shrimpo. In the West Wing with President Shrimpo is a deep dive into the political history of the United States. Each episode looks at the people and driving factors that created the country we live in today with special focus on the stories and voices least heard.
President Shrimpo 0:00
Hello, my name is President Shrimpo, and you are listening to in the West Wing, a political history podcast brought to you by WKNC 88.1. And in this week's episode, we will take a look at the escalation of tensions over the issue of American chattel slavery in the 1850s, the collapse of the Whig Party and the reorientation of American political parties, and one man's crusade against slavery.
So, where we left off, America had successfully conquered a vast portion of the, of the southwest from Mexico. And in the election of 1848, Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor, would be elected defeating the split Democratic Party between Lewis Cass and Free Soil candidate Martin Van Buren. And despite the fact that Taylor's campaign had been fairly apolitical, and sort of non ideological in its messaging, the fact of the matter was, no matter what he did, or what any candidate would have done, the biggest issue was the institution of slavery. And whether or not the newly acquired territories in from, from the Mexican session would be admitted as free or slave states. Now, now, first of all, Southern politicians generally favored keeping the newly acquired territories as federal territories that would be organized and sort of administered by Congress. And that was essentially a ploy in order to exert greater control over the slave policies of the newly acquired territories. However, northerners generally favored sort of circumventing the step of having the territories organized federally, and have them be directly administered as new free states. And despite the fact that President Taylor was a Southerner from the state of Louisiana, who owned slaves on his own plantation, he generally favored the northern position, and was actually opposed to the expansion of slavery into the southwest. Now, the reasons for this are complicated, and not entirely clear what his personal reasoning was. However, it seems that he's just believed that economically the institution of American slavery, which wouldn't be viable in the very dry and arid Southwest, and more importantly, he believed that by allowing these new territories or potentially states to practice slavery, it would only divide the country even further. And while Congress was trying to reach a compromise on the issue, Taylor increasingly became agitated with Southern Democrats who were the most vocal about forcing the issue of slavery onto these territories. And so, in response to this, Taylor publicly threatened to sign the Wilmot Proviso. Now, the Wilmot Proviso had been proposed, in I believe 1846 In the middle of the Mexican American War, and was suggested by Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman David Wilmot now Wilmot while being a Democrat, was part of the barnburner faction that was opposed to the expansion of slavery. And essentially, his Proviso stated that in any territory that was acquired from Mexico, quote,
David Wilmot 4:06
To the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty, which may be negotiated between them, and to use by the executive of the money's here and appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly convicted.
President Shrimpo 4:30
Now, this was a hardline stance on the issue of slavery for Taylor to take, and it really, quite honestly took quite a few people off guard, they just didn't expect it from him. And as Congress tried to reach a compromise, Taylor's position made the entire debate all the more complicated and sort of was more of a roadblock than anything. But that wouldn't be for terribly long, because on July 4, 1850 Only a little bit more than a year after his inauguration, a fourth of July celebration, Taylor ate a large bowl of cherries and drank iced milk. The story is then because of that, he he got sick and died. Whatever the case is, shortly after that Fourth of July celebration, Taylor developed a severe digestive tract illness, and in the following days developed a serious fever until on the night of July 9 1850, President Taylor died at age 65. Most likely, this illness was cholera or some form of dysentery as both were endemic to the Washington DC area at the time. More than likely, it was not the cherries or the milk itself, probably tainted in some way. But the point is, Taylor dies, and he's the second president to die in office. But unlike with the death of William Henry Harrison, there's no real debate over whether or not his vice president Millard Fillmore becomes president. Now, Millard Fillmore ascends to the presidency, he was a northern Whig from the state of New York, he was the former Comptroller of the state. And he was sort of seen as sort of an olive branch to the northern wing of the party to go in balance the ticket against the southern Taylor. But unlike Taylor, Fillmore was actually much more in favor of compromise on the issue of slavery. And shortly after ascending to the presidency, he would dismiss the entire cabinet appointed by Taylor. And essentially, Fillmore worked with those in favor of the compromise. And with after much jockeying within the Senate, the infamous compromise of 1850 would be passed in a series of bills. This compromise led to them all of California, being admitted as a single free state. Texas would end its claims on the New Mexico, New Mexico territory, in exchange for debt relief, and the newly organized federal territories of Utah and New Mexico would be organized, allowing the institution of slavery. Additionally, a stronger Fugitive Slave Act would be passed and enforced by the Congress. And it really those who are both opposed to the institution of slavery, and those who were in favor of the institution of slavery, really were very unhappy with this compromise. They, they, both sides sort of believed that that the the compromise went too far in the opposite direction. But most political moderates, generally agreed that this compromise was necessary and would save the Union and preserve its unity. One of the provisions of the compromise of 1850 was the newly enacted Fugitive Slave Act. There had been previous Fugitive Slave Acts, but they had never been enforced on a large scale. And the punishments were not that severe. This new act demanded that escaped slaves be returned to those who owned them, and placed $1,000 fine on any authority, who did not arrest a suspected escaped slave. And I think most importantly about this act is that unlike the previous Fugitive Slave Act, this one required free states to enforce the act. Additionally, individuals who were accused of being escaped slaves could not testify on their own behalf in court, they wouldn't even be granted a jury and the captors, who had captured them and accused them of being an escaped slave will be financially rewarded, regardless if whether or not the person was actually a free person or an escaped slave. Now, I have to say, most northerners at this point in time, we're not abolitionist, but this really, really aggravated northerners and sort of spurred a growth of anti-slavery sentiment, even, even within those who maybe didn't believe that the institution of slavery needed to be abolished. And I think, I think this, this act really struck a lot of fear in the hearts of those who, who had escaped the institution of slavery. John Brown, who was an abolitionist, from the state of Massachusetts at the time, stated that escaped slaves in his local abolitionist community of Springfield, Massachusetts, that quote,
John Brown 9:48
Some of them are so alarmed that they tell me they cannot sleep on account of either them or their wives and their children.
President Shrimpo 9:55
Now, despite the acts on popularity, Fillmore believed that It was his presidential duty to zealously enforce the Fugitive Slave Act. And this really alienated Northern anti-slavery Whigs. Well, Southern members of his own party continued to complain that it was just not being enforced strongly enough. Now, the issue with slavery was not the only issue on Fillmore's plate at the time, but I think it's the most important. Additionally, there was sort of a foreign policy push by the Fillmore administration, to sort of reorient American interest towards the Pacific, as has sort of first begun under the presidency of John Taylor. And I think, aside from the compromise of 1850, I think one of the other very notable events of Fillmore's presidency was the infamous Perry expedition in which President Fillmore ordered Commodore Perry, a member of the US Navy, to essentially send an expedition of American gunboats to the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan, and essentially force the isolationist Japanese regime to finally open up the country to foreign trade, which would, in the long term have a very important effects on American Pacific foreign policy. But for the purpose of this episode, I'm going to kind of gloss over it for now. So really, aside from, from this, and the compromise of 1850, I would say, Fillmore's presidency was entirely unremarkable. And I would even go so far as to say he had a poor presidency, he did not do well in the office, because his enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act and his attempt at compromise, only served to drive the entire party apart. He in, his effort to sort of create sort of a national consensus and sort of unite the two wings of his party really only served to make both sides angry and drive the Whig Party apart. And we see this then, in the election of 1852. In the election of 1852, the Whig Party had become incredibly bitterly divided. And while Fillmore attempted to run for re-election, on his own merits as President, that would just not come to be because General Winfield Scott would secure the party's nomination. While Democrats faced similar divisions between the different factions. They eventually settled on the compromise candidate of Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire. Franklin Pierce was a Northern Democrat, he was young, he was handsome. He, he was sort of seen as this very charismatic figure from the north, which you know, was very popular from that wing of the party. But most importantly, he was what, what people describe as a dough face, which essentially describes a northern politician who is friendly towards the positions of southern slaveholders. So, really, in this election cycle, the Whig Party under Scott really failed to differentiate their party platform in any major policy way, between themselves and the Democratic Party. And ultimately, their attempt at running another war hero just doesn't work. Because also, Scott was sort of seen as sort of this anti-slavery candidate in some ways he had this sort of reputation of being the sort of northerner that was less favorable, favorable on the expansion of slavery, which really harmed his chances among traditional Southern Whigs. And so ultimately, Franklin Pierce is able to defeat Scott 254 to 42 in the Electoral College, and Whigs, the Whig party really just took a severe beating in this election cycle, really only carrying their traditional sort of Whig strongholds of Vermont, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Tennessee. But despite this, this absolute walloping on the election cycle of 1852. The Whigs sort of believed that they could that they could kind of continue as this this strong political force into the future and sort of recover from this defeat. But as we will see, that simply was not the case. Before Franklin Pierce's presidency even began, his entire administration would be one shrouded in failure and grief. That is because shortly after his successful election to the presidency, President Elect Pierce would be traveling with his entire family on a train traveling out of Boston, the train would be derailed. And while Pierce and his wife would survive, his only son will be crushed to death in the ensuing train accident, and as a result, both Pierce and his wife were in a deep, deep depression. His own wife would not attend his presidential inauguration, and pierce refused to swear the oath of office on a Bible. Instead, he affirmed his oath on a law book. This was because he believed that in some way, God was punishing him for seeking the office of the presidency. And maybe he wasn't all that wrong. The biggest issue of Pierce's administration was the same issue that had plagued Taylor and Millard Fillmore presidencies. And that was slavery. Pearce really hoped that the compromise of 1850 had put the entire issue to rest, you know, he thought, you know, this compromise is reached, we don't have to address it again. That's that. But that simply was not the case. And we see this in the debate over the Nebraska territory. Essentially, a huge stretch of the Great Plains had been just sort of this unorganized federal territory, west of Missouri, it was this huge stretch stretching from the modern states of Kansas all the way up to the Dakotas. But Pierce was a proponent of a transcontinental railroad, he believed that that in order for America to prosper into the future, the eastern and western coasts of the United States needed to be connected by a railroad. And a railroad could only be constructed passing through the Great Plains, if the Nebraska territory would be organized into a federal territory, rather than just sort of the state of sort of unorganized lawlessness that existed at the time. And it's important to say that the Nebraska territory was north of the cert-, 36th and 30th parallel, which had been set by the Missouri Compromise. So essentially, that meant that the territories should they be organized, had to be free of the institution of slavery. But Southern congressmen refused to acquiesce to the organization of new territories, unless they were sort of given some concessions on the issue of slavery. And so, in 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, a Democrat, proposed a solution, the Nebraska territory would be split into the Kansas territory and the Nebraska territory. And the two territories would have a system of popular sovereignty, in which this population of both territories would be able to vote on whether or not they wanted to embrace slavery or reject it. Now, on paper, this maybe seems like an okay idea. These are northern territories, there's a good chance that they would have sort of an anti slavery population and it would just kind of be just a bit of lip service to southern politicians. But Pierce was hesitant to embrace this. And this hesitancy was, was because President Pierce believed that by enacting this, this Kansas Nebraska act, it would only enrage Northerners in much the same way the Fugitive Slave Act had done. But eventually, he would agree to it as a sort of ring of Southern politicians within his cabinet really pressured him into believing that it was a good idea. Chiefly among these cabinet ministers was Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, a name which we will hear quite a lot bit more from in the future. And upon the act being proposed, bitter debate would follow. Southerners nearly unanimously supported the act, while Northern politicians were really very seriously divided. Both Whigs and Democrats from the North were appalled by what this would mean.
Because they recognized that it was violating the Missouri Compromise which had been set in stone it was sort of political gospel at this point that you could not violate the Missouri Compromise and if the Missouri Compromise is being rolled back, what else could be rolled back? And I think one of the the leading examples of a pro-slavery Democrat being opposed to this because he recognized how severely dangerous this would be was Congressman Thomas Hart Benton, the former senator of Missouri, and a lifelong Democrat and slave owner. Benton was among those opposed to the act saying, quote,
Thomas Hart Benton 20:26
What is the excuse for all this turmoil and mischief? We are told just to keep the question of slavery out of Congress, great God, it was out of Congress completely, entirely and forever out of Congress, unless Congress dragged it in by breaking down the sacred laws which settled it.
President Shrimpo 20:42
Now, despite this bipartisan opposition, the Act would be signed into law on May 30 1854. And this would kickstart the total political realignment of federal politics over the issue of slavery. Essentially, as a reaction to this, northern Whigs, northern Democrats, members of the Free Soil Party members of the Liberty Party, all united in their opposition to the expansion of slavery would realign themselves, as they believed that the proponents of slavery, were forcing the institution further and further north. And that politicians from both parties were just not adequately addressing the entire issue. And from this, you know, United opposition to slavery, these Northern Democrats, these Northern Whigs, these Free Soilers, would come together and form the Republican Party. And in the midterms of 1854, they would participate in their first national election. And almost immediately after the Kansas Nebraska Act was passed, the issues that those opposed to the act said would arise did, and this would begin what is now known today, as Bleeding Kansas. Now, the Nebraska territory was further north of the two, and it was really very solidly set on becoming a new free territory and free state. But Kansas was different, it was further south, and it bordered the slave state of Missouri. And it really seemed that the majority of settlers would come from Missouri, it'd be in favor of slavery. But immediately there was this this very sudden rush of settlers to the territory. Because both pro and anti-slavery activist wanted to essentially put their thumbs on the scale, just tip the territory into becoming either a free or slave state. And essentially, both sides would put forward their own versions of state constitutions, and their own slates of state legislatures. And as a result, paramilitary groups would eventually start popping up. Specifically from Missouri, those called Border Ruffians would cross the border to intimidate anti-slavery advocates, and would illegally vote in fraudulent elections to push their pro-slavery agenda. And I'm not saying this is like, oh, you know, these, these people who I disagree with were were committing electoral fraud, it's well documented that, that people from Missouri were illegally crossing the border and lying about being residents of Kansas, voting in elections and then immediately crossing the border back into Missouri. And as political tensions rose within the territory, it would eventually escalate into outright violence. And on November 21 1855, a pro-slavery settler named Franklin Coleman would shoot and kill his free state Neighbor, Charles W. Dow. This was the first of many politically motivated killings in the territory. And it would sort of be seen as the first shot in Bleeding Kansas. The Republican senator from Massachusetts, Charles Sumner, would deliver a scathing speech against what he described as the crime against Kansas. And using very coarse language, using imagery of, of sexual violence, to sort of describe this, this rise of pro-slavery forces in the territory, would say in his speech on the Senate floor, quote,
Charles Sumner 24:35
Not in any common lust for power did this uncommon tragedy have its origin. It is the rape of a virgin territory, compelling it to the hateful embrace of slavery, and it may be clearly traced to a depraved desire for a new slave state, hideous offspring of such a crime in the hope of adding to the power of slavery in the national government.
President Shrimpo 24:57
Two days after delivering his speech, titled The Crime Against Kansas Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina would approach Charles Sumner at his desk. Brooks was a cousin of, of Senator Andrew Butler, who had been personally insulted by Sumner in his speech. And quietly, Representative Brooks would say to Senator Sumner, quote,
Preston Brooks 25:25
Mr. Sumner, I have read your speech twice over carefully. It is alive on South Carolina and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine.
President Shrimpo 25:36
Before Sumner could respond, Brooks proceeded to beat Sumner with his cane. Sumner would fall under his desk, trapped under the bolted furniture and Brooks would not stop. As senators rushed to Sumners aid. The two congressmen that had flanked Brooks drew pistols and threatened those preventing them from assisting Sumner. Blinded by the blood coming off of his head, Sumner would eventually stumble away from the desk, and Brooks would continue beating Sumner until his cane finally broke in half. Sumner was totally bedridden for months, unable to serve out his duties as senator from the state of Massachusetts, and with physical wounds, and I think, more importantly, psychological damage that we today would understand as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder prevented Sumner from serving out his senatorial duties until three years later, in 1859. And to many in the north he would become a martyr, seen as a victim of Southern violence. And on the other hand, Southerners applauded representative Brooks's actions and would, for many, many years continue mailing him canes as replacements for the ones after the one that he broke over Sumner's head. Editor William Cullen Bryant, of the New York Evening Post, wrote in an editorial saying, quote,
William Cullen Bryant 27:12
Has it come to this, that we must speak with bated breath in the presence of our southern masters? Are we to be chastised as they chastise their slaves? Are we too slaves, slaves for life, a target for their brutal blows, when we do not comport ourselves to police them.
President Shrimpo 27:29
News of Sumner's caning spread like wildfire, and it really galvanized the anti slavery movement across the country. Among those who were impacted by hearing about Sumners caning was John Brown. Now he was a settler in Kansas joined by his adult sons and facing escalating violence from pro-slavery advocates, most notably the sacking of the pro-anti-slavery city of Lawrence, Kansas. Brown would learn of both the sacking of Lawrence and Charles Sumner's caning on the same day. And with that the final straw broke. Brown would organize a raid the night of May 24 1856, joined by his adult sons and several other anti-slavery advocates. Sumner would in the night, abduct five pro-slavery men from their homes and murder them. This became known as the Potawatomi Massacre. This is complicated. This was vigilante violence, but it was vigilante violence in the cause of the freedom of other human beings. And this would set him on a course of violent action against slavery as you become an outlaw fleeing from the Kansas territory eastward. So with escalating violence in Bleeding Kansas, the deeply unpopular president Pierce would not be renominated. Instead, James Buchanan would be nominated. He was another northern doe face this time from the state of Pennsylvania, and had been floated as a presidential hopeful in the previous few presidential cycles. But this, I think, importantly, was the first election since its inception, that the Republican Party would would feel the candidate and specifically they would nominate former war hero of the Mexican American War. And sort of, and one of the first senators from the new state of California, John C. Fremont. And, really, the Republican platform was was organized entirely on the basis of opposing the expansion of slavery into Kansas and Nebraska, with their campaign slogan in 1856. Being free speech, free press, free soil, free men, and Fremont for victory. However, I think it's important to say that there were still the remnants of the old Whig Party, those who maybe didn't join the Republican cause, but were still too alienated against the Democratic Party. And these sort of leftover Whigs, if you could kind of describe them, would instead hope to cling to a national consensus, a sort of a political party that could bridge the divide still between North and South that was growing ever, ever wider, and they would organize into the no nothing organization, which was a rabidly xenophobic and anti-Catholic group, which would form what would then be called the American Party. Essentially, they thought that they could sort of create a nationally popular party that will just sort of totally ignore the biggest issue of the time, which was slavery. And this new American Party would nominate former Whig President Millard Fillmore as their only presidential candidate. But ultimately, Fillmore's entire campaign would entirely fall flat. Fillmore would only successfully win in the state of Maryland, Buchanan would sweep the entire south. While Fremont did much better in the north, he he swept New England, he captured New York, and the upper Great Lakes region, so Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio. But ultimately, the Republican Party would fail to win the election of 1856 as Buchanan was able to successfully paint the entire party as just too radical, and many voters at the time, felt that they were too radical. Again, like presidents Pierce, Fillmore and Taylor, the biggest issue of Buchanan's presidency would be slavery. The first big incident in his administration would be the Dred Scott case. President Buchanan had been in close contact with conservative members of the Supreme Court. And in the early months of 1857, and the Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sanford, that Scott, who was an enslaved man from the state of Missouri who had been brought to the state of Illinois could not be granted American citizenship, Scott attempted to sue his master claiming that he became free upon entering a free state. But the court ruled that as a black man, Scott could not be a citizen, and did not enjoy constitutional rights. And additionally, this case would prevent the federal government from prohibiting slavery in any federal territory. And as a doe face, you can and would forcefully support the ruling, which would just entirely enrage, increasingly anti-slavery northerners, this paired with an economic crash in 1857, caused Buchanan's approval ratings to bottom out within his first year in office, and his popularity would fail to ever recover entirely. Now, after becoming a fugitive in the Kansas territory, John Brown would flee eastwards, and would, in Missouri organize a slave escape, in which he would help 11 enslaved people escape and cross the border into Canada. And now, he found himself in the state of Virginia. Brown believed that slavery could only be ended through a violent revolution, in the same vein as the Haitian Revolution, or the or Nat Turner's revolt, which happened several decades earlier. And essentially, Brown would organize a band of 22 people 17 white men, five black men, including among them were his adult sons, free black men, and escaped slaves. And the plan was to capture the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown attempted to convince Frederick Douglass to assist in sort of encouraging an uprising. But ultimately, Douglass refused. There's reason to believe brown may have been in contact with Harriet Tubman. And the plan I from what I understand was that brown hoped that Tubman would spread the word that Brown was capturing the federal arsenal and that slaves would escape from their masters and join with him and their arms, the arms captured at the Arsenal would be distributed amongst the escaped slaves and would essentially initiate a guerrilla war against slaveholders in the state of Virginia. And so, brown captured several hostages, one of them being the the great grandnephew of George Washington. And they sort of set themselves up to hold and capture at the armory at Harpers Ferry. Very quickly, however, local slaveholders would quickly catch word of the attack, and a massive mob would surround the arsenal. And within a short order, federal troops were quickly sent in headed by certain Robert E Lee. After a two day siege, half of the raiders were killed in combat. And among them were two of John Brown's sons Oliver and Watson Brown. The remainder, including John Brown, would be captured and placed on trial for their crimes against the state of Virginia. There really was a very strong case for this to be a trial in a federal court. However, the governor of Virginia really wanted to make an example of John Brown, and sort of radical abolitionism. And so instead, he would be tried for treason against the state of Virginia on November 2 1859, At his sentencing, Brown would be found guilty and sentenced to hanging. But after his sentencing, he would be asked by the clerk, if there was any reason that his sentence should not be imposed, as was customary in Virginia courtrooms at the time. Brown who was severely injured from the fighting, was in a cot during the entire trial. But to deliver his remarks, he would rise from his cot and deliver one of the most powerful speeches in American history and said, quote,
John Brown 37:05
I have may it please the Court a few words to say, in the first place, I deny everything, but what I have all along admitted the design on my part to free the slaves. I intend, certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter. As I did last winter, when I went to Missouri and there took the slaves without the snapping of the gun on either side, move them through the country, and finally left them in Canada, I designed to have done the same thing again, on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection. I have another objection. And that is, it is unjust, that I should suffer such a penalty had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly approved. For I admire the truthfulness and candor of the great portion of witnesses who have testified in this case, had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so called Great, or in behalf of any of their friends, either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have for this interference, it would have been all right, and every man in this court would have deemed an act worthy of reward rather than punishment. This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God, I see a book kissed here, which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament, that teaches me that all things whatsoever I would, that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me further to remember them veteran bonds as bound with them. I endeavored to act upon that instruction. I say, I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done, as I have always really admitted I have done in behalf of his despise poor was not wrong. But right. Now, if it is deemed necessary, that I should forfeit my life, for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and the blood of millions in this slave country, whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel and unjust enactments, I submit, so let it be done.
President Shrimpo 39:30
John Brown, would be hanged December 2, refusing to be ministered to by a pro-slavery priest. Shortly before his death, he left a note to his jailer, simply reading quote,
John Brown 39:46
I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed, it might be done.
President Shrimpo 40:00
And with that, John Brown was right. The institution of slavery would only come to an end after four bloody years of American Civil War, but we're not quite there yet in American history. As always, I have been your host, President Shrimpo, and you have been listening to In The West Wing political history podcast brought to you by WKNC 88.1. And in the next episode, we will take a look at the election of 1860 and the rise of Abraham Lincoln. Special thanks to those who helped give history a voice in this week's episode of In the West Wing, with Justin Kern as David Wilmot, DJ Reggie as Thomas Hart Benton, Spencer Grattan as Charles Sumner, Daniel Turk as Preston Brooks, Caitlin Carroll as William Cullen Bryant, and Sarah Hernando as John Brown. The intro music used on in the West Wing is Star Spangled Banner by the United States Marine Band, and our outro is Libertad, by Iriarte and Pesoa.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai