David Colbreth Broderick (February 4, 1820 – September 16, 1859) was an attorney and politician, elected by the legislature as Democratic

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

from

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He lived in New York until moving to California during the

Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

. He was a first cousin of politicians Andrew Kennedy of Indiana and

Case Broderick Case Broderick (September 23, 1839 – April 1, 1920) was an American politician and jurist who served as Associate Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, Idaho Territorial Supreme Court from 1884 to 1888 and as United States House of Representativ ...

of Kansas. At age 39, Broderick was fatally wounded in a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

with jurist

David S. Terry David Smith Terry (March 8, 1823 – August 14, 1889) was an American politician and jurist who served as the fourth chief justice of the Supreme Court of California; he was an author of the state's 1879 Constitution. Terry killed U.S. Se ...

, a former friend.

Early years

Broderick was born in 1820 in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, on

East Capitol Street East Capitol Street is a major street that divides the northeast and southeast quadrants of Washington, D.C. It runs due east from the United States Capitol to the DC-Maryland border. The street is uninterrupted until Lincoln Park then cont ...

just west of 3rd Street. He was the son of an Irish

stonecutter Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using rock (geology), stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with Mortar (masonry), mortar ...

and his wife. His father had come to the United States in order to work on the construction of the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the Seat of government, seat of the United States Congress, the United States Congress, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, federal g ...

. In 1823, Broderick moved with his parents to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

; there, he attended public schools and was

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

d to a stonecutter.

Political career

Broderick became active in politics as a young man, joining the Democratic Party. In 1846, he was the Democratic candidate for

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

New York's 5th congressional district New York's 5th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives, represented by United States Democratic Party, Democrat Gregory Meeks. The district is located in Queens. A plurality of the distr ...

, but lost the election to Whig candidate

Frederick A. Tallmadge Frederick Augustus Tallmadge (August 29, 1792 – September 17, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. Life He was born on August 29, 1792, in Litchfield, Connecticut, the son of Benjamin Tallmadge (1754–1835) and Mary Floy ...

, who gained 42% of the vote to Broderick's 38%.

State Senate career

Broderick was a member of the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...

from 1850 to 1852, serving as its president from 1851 to 1852. Broderick was acting

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

from January 9, 1851, to January 8, 1852, following incumbent John McDougall's succession to the

governorship A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' may ...

. From then on, Broderick effectively had political control of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, which under his "utterly vicious" rule soon became notorious for municipal corruption. In the words of his biographer

Jeremiah Lynch Jeremiah Christopher Lynch (10 January 1878 – 9 November 1950) was an Irish revolutionary from County Cork who was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and became a Sinn Féin TD in the First Dáil. A skilled organiser, he was promine ...

: Broderick became rich from this system. In

1857 Events January–March * January 1 – The biggest Estonian newspaper, '' Postimees'', is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. * January 7 – The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating. * Ja ...

, Broderick was elected by the state legislature as

from California (popular election of senators did not start until the 20th century). Broderick began his term on March 4, 1857.

Feud and death

At that time, just prior to the start of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, the Democratic Party of California was divided between pro-slavery and "

Free Soil The Free Soil Party, also called the Free Democratic Party or the Free Democracy, was a political party in the United States from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was focused on opposing the expansion of slav ...

" factions. Broderick led the Free Soilers. One of his closest friends was

, formerly the Chief Justice of the California State Supreme Court. He advocated extending slavery into California. Terry lost his re-election bid because of his pro-slavery platform, and he blamed Broderick for the loss. Terry, considered even by his friends as caustic and aggressive, made some inflammatory remarks at a party convention in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

, which Broderick read. He took offense, and sent Terry an equally vitriolic reply, describing: Passions escalated; on September 13, 1859, former friends Terry and Broderick, both expert marksmen, met outside of

city limits at

Lake Merced Lake Merced () is a freshwater lake located on the West Side of San Francisco, in the southwest corner of the city. It is surrounded by three golf courses (the private Olympic Club and San Francisco Golf Club, and the public TPC Harding Park), as ...

for a

. The pistols chosen for the duel had hair triggers, and Broderick's discharged prior to the final "1-2-3" count, firing prematurely into the ground. Thus disarmed, he was forced to stand as Terry shot him in the right lung. Terry at first believed the shot to be only a flesh wound, but it proved to be fatal. Broderick died three days later, and was buried under a monument erected by the state in Lone Mountain Cemetery in San Francisco. He is the only U.S. Senator ever to be killed in a duel while in office. In 1942, he was reinterred at

Cypress Lawn Memorial Park Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, established by Hamden Holmes Noble in 1892, is a rural cemetery located in Colma, California, a place known as the "City of the Silent". History Noble was a Civil War veteran who moved to California in 1865 and was ...

Colma, California Colma (Ohlone for "Springs") is a small incorporated List of municipalities in California, town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 1,507 at the 2020 U ...

Legacy

Edward Dickinson Baker, a close friend of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

, spoke at Broderick's funeral. He expressed the widely held belief that Broderick was killed because of his anti-slavery stance: Some maintain that in his death Broderick became a martyr to the anti-slavery cause, and the episode was part of a national spiral towards civil war. At the Republican National Convention in Chicago in May 1860, a portrait of the late Senator Broderick was hung. In 1864 another portrait would be hung from the flagstaff of the Hibernian Lincoln and Johnson Club in San Francisco. About thirty years later, Terry was shot to death by Deputy United States Marshal

David Neagle David Butler Neagle (October 10, 1847—November 28, 1925) was a Deputy U.S. Marshal who, while guarding Associate Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field, killed former California Chief Justice David S. Terry when he assaulted Field. Neagle wa ...

while threatening

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Justice

Stephen Johnson Field Stephen Johnson Field (November 4, 1816 – April 9, 1899) was an American jurist. He was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from May 20, 1863, to December 1, 1897, the second longest tenure of any justice. Prior to this ap ...

, a friend of Broderick. Broderick County, Kansas Territory was named for the senator. The former town of

Broderick, California Broderick (formerly, Washington) is a former town in Yolo County, California, United States, now forming part of the City of West Sacramento. It is located just west of the Sacramento River in the eastern portion of the county. Broderick's ZIP ...

, and Broderick Street in San Francisco were also named in his honor. In 1963,

Carroll O'Connor John Carroll O'Connor (August2, 1924– June21, 2001) was an American actor whose television career spanned over four decades. He found widespread fame as Archie Bunker (for which he won four Emmy Awards), the main character in the CBS televis ...

was cast as Broderick, with

Brad Dexter Brad Dexter (born Boris Michel Soso; April 9, 1917 – December 12, 2002) was an American actor and film producer. He is known for tough-guy and western roles, including the 1960 film '' The Magnificent Seven'' (1960), and producing several fi ...

as Justice Terry, in "A Gun Is Not a Gentleman" on the

syndicated television Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

anthology series An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ...

, ''

Death Valley Days ''Death Valley Days'' is an American Western (genre), Western anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was ...

'', hosted by

Stanley Andrews Stanley Martin Andrews (born Andrzejewski; August 28, 1891 – June 23, 1969) was an American actor perhaps best known as the voice of Daddy Warbucks on the radio program ''Little Orphan Annie'' and later as "The Old Ranger", the first host of ...

. The program portrays Terry mortally wounding Senator Broderick in 1859. Though past allies as Democrats, Terry, a defender of slavery, challenges the anti-slavery Broderick to a duel. After he fatally shoots Broderick, Terry is tried, but the case is dismissed.

References

External links

*
Obituary for Broderick in California Police Gazette
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Broderick, David Colbert 1820 births 1859 deaths 19th-century American lawyers Abolitionists from California American people of Irish descent American politicians killed in duels Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (San Francisco) Democratic Party California state senators Daly City, California Deaths by firearm in California Democratic Party United States senators from California Lawyers from New York City Lieutenant governors of California New York (state) Democrats Politicians from Washington, D.C. People of the California Gold Rush Politicians from New York City 19th-century members of the California State Legislature 19th-century United States senators