The lame-duck president Buchanan was attending a wedding when South Carolina had reached its decision. During the wedding, Congressman Laurence Keitt—the man who had advised Brooks on caning Sumner—barged into the hall. Jumping up and down, waving a telegram from his home state in his hand, Keitt began hollering, “Thank God! Oh, thank God!… South Carolina has seceded!… I feel like a boy let out from school!” When President Buchanan grasped the gravity of Keitt’s news, he was stunned. He fell back, grasped the arms of his chair, and asked someone to take him home. He was in no mood to celebrate
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