Culture of the Antebellum Congress

Professor Thomas Balcerski talked about the culture of Congress in the Antebellum Era. He described how members of Congress in the early 1800s bonded across party lines through tobacco use, social clubs, and living together in boarding houses. However, he said these friendships and alliances disintegrated as the Civil War approached, revealing the sectional divisions in national politics at the time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices