in your book you write there seems to be so much violence in the house and senate chambers in the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s, shoving, punching, bowie knives. congressman brawling in the benches while colleagues stood on chairs to get a good look. and at at least once a gun was fired on the house floor. historically they have been demonstrated, that violence has been demonstrated at our highest levels of governance. context matters. the united states in the 1840s and 1850s was a really violent country. that was rioting and mobbing of various sorts. there was slaughtering of native-americans, the institution of slavery. so the united states was a different place. so it makes sense as a representative institution, certainly, congress had some of that reflected in it.