I ran across former Speaker of the House Galusha Grow today. Hadn't thought of him in awhile and remembered he is one of the great names in Congressional history. I read his Wikipedia page and was reminded of just how horrible Congress was in the...
1850s
This selection from New York Police Chief George Matsell's Vocabulum, or the Rogue’s Lexicon, a collection of criminal slang, is amazing. It's available here in its entirety. Here are some.
Joke from an 1850s quasi-pornographic newspaper: "Why is Ex-President Pierce like the privates of a man? Because he went in Hard and came out Soft." I'm not actually sure what.