he said what did preston brooks have to do with the attack on me? it was not mortal men. it was slavery itself that struck the blow. well, that kind of sense of the abstract may also be why in december when the congress opened, sumner offered a very controversial resolution. that resolution was to propose that all of the markings of american victories against the confederacy be stripped from the flags of the regiments of the united states. now, remember, in those days when you won a victory, chancellors field, vicksburg, gettysburg, you discovered as a matter of fact these would be put on the banner of those regiments that had been there, and now sumner was calling for these to be removed, for as he argued keeping alive the memory of a civil war amongst the people is something barbarous. it should be said that sumner was on very good grounds, very good grounds. you look at the battle flags of great britain, and you find no kind of insignias of the battle of germantown, for example, or the battle of bunker hill or any of those kind of battles. because, in fact, the united

. -- preston brooks. it almost came to the point that it killed him, and it would be three years before he returned to the senate to battle for equal rights. i bring him up crucially, because even during the war, sumner is used as an example of everything evil and wrong about the northern response to the issue of slavery and the quality. -- and a quality. -- equality. on the altar of negro worship, spirit wrappings, free love, socialism, atheism. and you can see they're one of the candleholders is charles sumner. it is perhaps not surprising that people were shocked in 1872 that sumner would support the democratic candidate for president, horace greeley, a man who declared at one point that while it was true that not every democrat was a horse thief, every horse thief was a democrat. how could you support a party so hostile to equal rights? you had stood your entire right to freedom. even more strange, after the defeat of greeley and his staff, charles sumner -- his death, charles sumner, accused of being

senate floor in 1856 when political anger turned to manic rage and a south carolina congressman, preston brooks, attacking with a heavy cane -- attacked with heavy cane and nearly clubbed to death the outspoken abolitionist charles sumner of massachusetts. there was a day in 1950 when a freshman senator from maine, margaret chase-smith, had the courage to stand and challenge senator joseph mccarthy as no one yet had. saying that those who shouted loudest about americanism all too frequently ignored such basic principles of americanism as the right to criticize. the right to hold unpopular beliefs. the right to protest. the right of independent thought. harry truman later said to her, mrs. smith, your declaration of conscience was one of the finest things that's happened here in washington in all my years in the senate and in the white house. as should be appreciated, too, there is here and rightfully an enduring pride that comes with serving one's country, of navigating with skill and good intentions and to good effect within this political institution. congressman barbara jordan once put if pr

brooke. >> let me bring in mark preston, cnn politics executive order.first on this, to quote jeff zeleny, the drip, drip, drip of the e-mails. might this be an october surprise that could affect the clinton campaign? >> strategically if you are a republican at this point, if you are helping run donald trump's campaign probably what you want to happen is for this to be discussed over and over again up until october. the idea that something might be hidden, that there might be something in the e-mails that could cause her embarrassment, could cause her pain, could be a political liability and then you want it to be unleashed in october at that point because it's so close to election day. now, the question is, is there anything in there that would matter to the american people and we don't know because we don't know what is in there. but to jeff's point right there, at this point this is a nagging injury right now for the clintons. it could become worse but most people right now would prefer, i think, to hear about how each candidate is going to deal with