By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.
Feb. 6, 2020
You saw or heard about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ripping up her copy of President Trump’s State of the Union address, right behind him, after Trump started off the speech by not shaking her hand.
Ugh. As a reminder that our political climate could be worse, let’s recall that on Dec. 4, 1837, Arkansas’ speaker of the House stabbed to death a legislator during a debate about wolf pelts.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Speaker John Wilson was presiding over a special session called by the governor to discuss an expected tax surplus.
House members were debating a Senate bill allowing bounties to be paid for wolf pelts presented to a county justice of the peace. During a discussion about how to verify where the wolf was killed, Randolph County Rep. Joseph Anthony offered a not-serious amendment requiring each pelt to be signed by the Arkansas Real Estate Bank president. That president was Speaker Wilson, and the bank was “notoriously corrupt,” according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
Wilson took offense and, after an exchange of words, drew a knife and attacked Anthony. Anthony drew his own knife, but Wilson fatally stabbed him in the heart.
The Legislature expelled Wilson from the body, and he was charged with murder. His trial was moved to Saline County – the first murder trial ever held there. During the trial, Wilson lodged in the same place as the judge did and paid for the judge’s meals. The jury ruled that Wilson was “guilty of excusable homicide,” which meant he was set free. Wilson responded by telling the sheriff to take the jury members to a tavern, and he would pay for their drinks.
Not only was Wilson a free man, but his political career wasn’t over. As the Encyclopedia of Arkansas explains, two years later he was elected to return to the Arkansas House to represent Pike County. Yes, there was another incident in 1842 when he took offense during a debate about the bank, and he and another legislator had to be separated before any violence occurred.
Compared to a fatal knife fight while debating wolf pelts, a snubbed handshake and a ripped up speech don’t sound so bad, do they?
Life today is worse in some ways than it’s been in the past, or at least it’s heading in the wrong direction.
But a balanced view also sees where things are better. As ugly as our politics have become, it’s hard to imagine a speaker of the House murdering a fellow legislator in the course of doing business, and then a jury setting him free because the smart-mouthed victim had it coming.
There are other ways in which life today is improving. One example: The number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide fell by 1.1 billion from 1990 to 2015. According to the World Bank, in 1990 nearly 36% of the world’s population lived on less than $1.90 a day. By 2015, it was 10%.
Maybe if we had time machines, we could be reminded that life always has had its conflicts and difficulties, and things aren’t so bad these days in comparison. Returning to America’s slave trade would show us families being bought and sold on auction blocks. Can you imagine the grief of the mothers as their children were ripped away from them, while the crowd of buyers … just stood there? Our time machine could take us to the late 1800s to American sweatshops where factory workers, including children, toiled in squalid conditions with few rights and little hope for the future. Or we could go back only 63 years – to those supposedly golden, wholesome 1950s – and see Arkansas’ governor and a mob preventing black students from attending Little Rock Central High School because of their race.
We should not bury our heads in the sand about things. The current political climate is distressing and depressing.
But 182 years ago, Arkansas’ speaker of the House stabbed to death a legislator during a debate about wolf pelts.
Like I said, it could be worse.