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Product Description Whether Congress is in session or not, here is an enthralling overview about the branch of our government closest to average Americans. Best-selling adult author and the first woman to become executive editor of The New York Times, Jill Abramson is a self-confessed political junkie. Now she has written the book she wishes she'd had as a young reader. Explaining clearly and concisely what exactly Congress does, this book is peppered with fascinating stories, including the bloody beating in the Senate of a lawmaker in pre-Civil War days, the Watergate hearings, and Senator Joe McCarthy's shameful "witch hunt" of Communists. Kids may start considering a career in Congress themselves when they learn fun facts, such as the special "candy desk" in the Senate, and the fact that all lawmakers can bring their dogs to work! With 80 fun black-and-white illustrations and an engaging 16-page photo insert, readers will be excited to read this latest additon to this #1 New York Times Best-Selling series. About the Author Jill Abramson has had an illustrious career in journalism. She teaches journalism at Harvard, but most importantly, she is the younger sister of Jane O'Connor, who edited this book. She lives in Madison, Connecticut. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. What Is Congress? Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was angry. Very angry. It was May 1856 when he stood up in the Senate. He was speaking out against a bill (a proposed law) that would let slavery spread in the United States. Northern states were very much against this. One of the senators who wanted the bill passed was Andrew Butler. He was from South Carolina and a champion of slavery. Butler owned a plantation (a large farm) with sixty--four enslaved people working on it. Butler was not at the Senate that day when Sumner spoke. Recently, Butler had suffered a stroke and had trouble walking and talking. So he didn’t hear Sumner call him names. Nor did he see how Sumner was imitating how he spit when he talked and shuffled when he walked. But a second cousin of Butler’s, Preston Brooks, found out about it. He decided to strike back. Brooks was a member of Congress, too. He was in the House of Representatives. Two days later, he and two friends crossed the marble hall from the House of Representatives to where the Senate met. Sumner sat at his desk, preparing to mail copies of his speech. Brooks crept up behind him. He was carrying a cane with a heavy gold handle. Before Sumner knew what was happening, Brooks began bashing Sumner over his head and body. Brooks beat him so savagely that the cane broke. Blood ran down Sumner’s face. He couldn’t see to get away. Brooks and his friend were gone before help came for Sumner. It took the Massachusetts senator three years to recover. Brooks was forced to resign from the House of Representatives, although his district voted him back into office. Both Brooks and his cousin, Senator Butler of South Carolina, died shortly after the attack. As for Charles Sumner, he served many more years in the Senate and fought for equal rights for African Americans following the Civil War. Over a history of almost two hundred and fifty years, there have been many fights in Congress over the laws it passes. But they have almost always been fights of words. None has ever been as bloody as what became known as “The Caning of Charles Sumner.” Chapter 1: In the Beginning Before there was a president or even a United States of America, there was a Congress. The thirteen American colonies first formed a Congress in 1774 to deal with the British government’s so--called Intolerable Acts, which angered the colonists. As the situation worsened, they formed a second Congress in 1775, and then in 1776 broke away from Britain and started a war for independence. Congress became a kind of central government, a government over all the colonies. It would tak
