and yet, even nicol afelt bound to add this. it has done well.nd much more than could reasonably have been expected of it. certainly much more than any former congress has done. so how is one congress in 7 1/2 months able to accomplish so much? it is a natural question for us to ask today living as we do in a time of frequent gridlock on capitol hill. i would offer several explanations for your consideration but first i would say that it was not because politicians in those days were less partisan or more cooperative than they are today. if we think politics is a nasty business now, consider the fact the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee in 1862, charles sumner, of massachusetts, arrived for that session still bearing the scars of his savaged beating he had receive order the floor of the senate in 1856 when preston brooks of south carolina attacked him with a brass tipped walking stick. hammered his head until the stick broke and then received hundreds of replacement sticks in the mail from all across the south. or that the speak