There was name-calling on the U. S. Senate floor in 1888.  So nothing has changed, except that a newspaper editor in the 19th century would report that as shocking.  If they only knew what was coming in the 21st, when “lie” would be a daily headline and “dirty dog” would sound like a compliment compared to things politicians admit and even brag about.

The editor of the Chatham Record, in Pittsboro, N. C., was relieved (and perhaps a bit self-righteous) to report that neither of the verbally abusive rascals was from the South.  They only sent gentlemen to the Senate down here.  However, it sounds like the Mid-Westerners knew how to play to an  audience:

“The most disgraceful scene probably ever witnessed in the United States Senate was that between Ingalls and Voorhees, a few days ago. The most abusive language was used–such as ‘liar’ and ‘dirty dog’–and the galleries indulged in uproarious laughter and applause. We are gratified to know that neither of the Senators was a Southerner: one being from Kansas and the other from Indiana. To make the disgrace still deeper is the fact that one of them (Ingalls) is the presiding officer of the dignified (?) body.

Source:  Chatham Record, Pittsboro, N. C., May 10, 1888, p. 2; on https://www.digitalnc.org/newspapers/chatham-record-pittsboro-nc/, accessed 5 May 2018; Puck Magazine illustration from 1881, U.S. Senate Collection (cat.no. 38.00519.001)

copyright 2018 by Glenda Alexander–all rights reserved