Editing David C. Broderick

{{Short description|American politician (1820–1859)}}
{{redirect|Senator Broderick}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name         = David Broderick
|image        = Hon. David C. Broderick, Cal - NARA - 528285 Crop.jpg
|caption      = Portrait by [[Mathew Brady]] {{circa}} 1857–1859
|jr/sr        = United States Senator
|state        = [[California]]
|term_start   = March 4, 1857
|term_end     = September 16, 1859
|predecessor  = [[John B. Weller]]
|successor    = [[Henry P. Haun]]
|office1      = ''Acting'' [[Lieutenant Governor of California]]
|governor1    = [[John McDougall (California politician)|John McDougall]] 
|term_start1  = January 9, 1851
|term_end1    = January 8, 1852
|predecessor1 = John McDougall
|successor1   = [[Samuel Purdy]]
|state_senate2 = California
|constituency2 = [[San Francisco]] district {{small|(1850–1851)}}<br />[[California's 6th senatorial district|6th district]] {{small|(1851–1852)}}
|term_start2  = January 8, 1850
|term_end2    = January 5, 1852
|predecessor2 = ''Multi-member district''
|successor2   = ''Multi-member district''
|birth_name   = David Colbreth Broderick
|birth_date   = {{birth date|1820|2|4}}
|birth_place  = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1859|9|16|1820|2|4}}
|death_place  = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.
|death_cause  = [[Broderick–Terry duel|Homicide by duel]]
|party        = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|otherparty   = [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] {{small|(1850)}}<br />[[Free Soil Party|Free Soil]] {{small|(1850s)}}
}}
'''David Colbreth Broderick''' (February 4, 1820 – September 16, 1859) was an attorney and politician, elected by the legislature as [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[California]]. He lived in New York until moving to California during the [[California Gold Rush|Gold Rush]]. He was a first cousin of politicians [[Andrew Kennedy (American politician)|Andrew Kennedy]] of Indiana and [[Case Broderick]] of Kansas. At age 39, Broderick was fatally wounded in a [[duel]] with jurist [[David S. Terry]], a former friend.

==Early years==
Broderick was born in 1820 in [[Washington, D.C.]], on [[East Capitol Street]] just west of 3rd Street. He was the son of an [[Irish people|Irish]] [[Stonemasonry|stonecutter]] and his wife. His father had come to the United States in order to work on the construction of the [[United States Capitol]]. In 1823, Broderick moved with his parents to [[New York City]]; there, he attended public schools and was [[apprentice]]d to a stonecutter.

==Political career==
Broderick became active in politics as a young man, joining the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. In 1846, he was the Democratic candidate for [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] from [[New York's 5th congressional district]], but lost the election to [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] candidate [[Frederick A. Tallmadge]], who gained 42% of the vote to Broderick's 38%.<ref>{{cite book |title=Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U. S. Elections |publisher=Congressional Quarterly Inc |location=Washington, DC |year=1985 |page=[https://archive.org/details/congressionalqua0000unse/page/739 739] |isbn=0-87187-339-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/congressionalqua0000unse/page/739 }}</ref>

==State Senate career==
Broderick was a member of the [[California State Senate]] from 1850 to 1852, serving as its president from 1851 to 1852.  Broderick was acting [[Lieutenant Governor of California|Lieutenant Governor]] from January 9, 1851, to January 8, 1852, following incumbent [[John McDougall (California politician)|John McDougall]]'s succession to the [[Governor of California|governorship]].  From then on, Broderick effectively had political control of [[San Francisco]], which under his "utterly vicious"<ref>Young, John P. ''San Francisco, a History of the Pacific Coast Metropolis'' Volume 1, 1912, page 214.</ref> rule soon became notorious for municipal corruption.<ref>Asbury, Herbert. ''The Barbary Coast''. New York, 1933. Chapter 4. {{blockquote|From the middle of 1851 to his death, in 1859, Broderick was, for all practical purposes, in absolute control of San Francisco's political machinery. ... And not even his most adoring worshippers have been able entirely to conceal the plain fact that in the final analysis he must, more than any one man, shoulder responsibility for the municipal corruption which was the basic cause of the second uprising of a tormented and enraged citizenry.
}}</ref>  In the words of his biographer [[Jeremiah Lynch]]:<ref>Lynch, Jeremiah. ''A Senator of the Fifties: David C. Broderick of California'', 1911, pages 68–69.</ref>

{{blockquote|In San Francisco he became the dictator of the municipality. His political lessons and observations in New York were priceless. He introduced a modification of the same organization in San Francisco with which [[Tammany Hall|Tammany]] has controlled New York for lo! these many years. It was briefly this. At a forthcoming election a number of offices were to be filled; those of sheriff, district attorney, alderman, and places in the legislature. Several of these positions were very lucrative, notably that of the sheriff, tax-collector, and assessor. The incumbents received no specified salaries, but were entitled to all or a certain proportion of the fees. These fees occasionally exceeded $50,000 per annum. Broderick would say to the most popular or the most desirable aspirant: "This office is worth $50,000 a year. Keep half and give me the other half, which I require to keep up our organization in the state. Without intelligent, systematic discipline, neither you nor I can win, and our opponents will conquer, unless I have money enough to pay the men whom I may find necessary. If you agree to that arrangement, I will have you nominated when the convention assembles, and then we will all pull together until after the election." Possibly this candidate dissented, but then someone else consented, and as the town was hugely Democratic, his selections were usually victorious.}}

Broderick became rich from this system.<ref>Asbury, Herbert. ''The Barbary Coast''. New York, 1933. Chapter 4. {{blockquote|Broderick's political income from these and other sources was probably several hundred thousand dollars a year, and with such sums at his disposal he not only maintained his hold upon the city but furthered his ambition to be United States Senator, despite the slashing onslaughts of several of the newspapers.}}</ref>

In [[1857 United States Senate election in California|1857]], Broderick was elected by the state legislature as [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from California (popular election of senators did not start until the 20th century). Broderick began his term on March 4, 1857.

==Feud and death==
{{infobox historic site
| name =  Broderick-Terry Dueling Place
| image = Broderick-Terry Duel Site.jpg
| caption = Broderick-Terry Dueling Place
| locmapin = California#USA
| coordinates = {{coord|37.7081|-122.4842|type:landmark_region:US-CA|display=inline,title}}
| location = 1100 Lake Merced Boulevard, [[Daly City, California]] 
| built = 1859
| architect = [[David S. Terry]] and Broderick
| designation1 = California
| designation1_date = June 1, 1932
| designation1_number = 19<ref>{{cite ohp |19| Broderick-Terry Dueling Place  #19|2012-10-07}}</ref>
}}
{{Main|Broderick–Terry duel}}
At that time, just prior to the start of the [[American Civil War]], the Democratic Party of California was divided between pro-slavery and "[[Free Soil]]" factions. Broderick led the Free Soilers. One of his closest friends was [[David S. Terry]], 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,<ref>Richards, Leondard. ''The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War,'' "Prologue," pg. 2, 2008</ref> made some inflammatory remarks at a party convention in [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]], which Broderick read. He took offense, and sent Terry an equally vitriolic reply, describing:

{{blockquote|Terry to be a "damned miserable wretch" who was as corrupt as President [[James Buchanan]] and [[William M. Gwin|William Gwin]], California's other senator. "I have hitherto spoken of him as an honest man—as the only honest man on the bench of a miserable, corrupt Supreme Court—but now I find I was mistaken. I take it all back. He is just as bad as the others."<ref>Richards, Leonard. ''The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War,'' "Prologue," pg. 3, 2008</ref>}}

[[File:David C. Broderick, Senator from California, Thirty-fifth Congress, half-length portrait LCCN2010649438 Square.jpg|thumb|left|Photograph of Broderick by [[Julian Vannerson]], 1859]]

Passions escalated; on September 13, 1859, former friends Terry and Broderick, both expert marksmen, met outside of [[San Francisco]] city limits at [[Lake Merced]] for a [[Broderick–Terry duel|duel]]. 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]] in [[Colma, California]].

==Legacy==
[[Edward D. Baker|Edward Dickinson Baker]], a close friend of [[Abraham Lincoln]], spoke at Broderick's funeral. He expressed the widely held belief that Broderick was killed because of his anti-slavery stance:

{{blockquote|His death was a political necessity, poorly veiled beneath the guise of a private quarrel. . .What was his public crime? The answer is in his own words; "I die because I was opposed to a corrupt administration and the extension of slavery."<ref>Richards, Leonard. ''The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War'' Prologue, pg. 4, 2008</ref>}}

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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5921990/portrait_of_the_late_sen_david/|title=[untitled paragraph]|work=Brooklyn Evening Star|date=May 16, 1860|page=2|access-date=July 17, 2016|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1864 another portrait would be hung from the flagstaff of the Hibernian Lincoln and Johnson Club in San Francisco.<ref>''Daily Alta California'', 14 October 1864</ref>

About thirty years later, Terry was shot to death by [[United States Marshals Service|Deputy United States Marshal]] [[In re Neagle|David Neagle]] while threatening [[United States Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] Justice [[Stephen Johnson Field]], a friend of Broderick.
 
[[Broderick County, Kansas Territory]] was named for the senator.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_o8X5krq3fP8C | title=Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. | publisher=Standard Publishing Company | author=Blackmar, Frank Wilson | year=1912 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_o8X5krq3fP8C/page/n231 235]}}</ref> The former town of [[Broderick, California]], and Broderick Street in San Francisco were also named in his honor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sfstreets.noahveltman.com/#2280|title = The History of San Francisco Place Names}}</ref>

In 1963, [[Carroll O'Connor]] was cast as Broderick, with [[Brad Dexter]] as Justice Terry, in "A Gun Is Not a Gentleman" on the [[Television syndication|syndicated television]] [[anthology series]], ''[[Death Valley Days]]'', hosted by [[Stanley Andrews]]. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0556539/?ref_=ttep_ep3|title=A Gun Is Not a Gentleman" on ''Death Valley Days''|date=8 February 1963|publisher=Internet Movie Database|access-date=February 28, 2019}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of United States Congress members killed or wounded in office]]
*[[List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{CongBio|B000857}} Retrieved on 2008-01-14
* Arthur Quinn, ''The Rivals: William Gwin, David Broderick, and the Birth of California'', (Crown Publishers, Inc.: The Library of the American West, New York, 1994), {{ISBN|0-517-59537-0}} (1997 reprint: {{ISBN|0-8032-8851-4}})

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=David C. Broderick}}
* [http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/broderick.html Obituary for Broderick in California Police Gazette]

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{{s-bef|before=[[John McDougall (California politician)|John McDougall]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Lieutenant Governor of California]]<br>Acting|years=1851–1852}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Samuel Purdy]]}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[John B. Weller]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of United States senators from California|U.S. Senator (Class 1) from California]]|years=1857–1859|alongside=[[William M. Gwin]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Henry P. Haun]]}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Broderick, David Colbert}}
[[Category:1820 births]]
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[[Category:Abolitionists from California]]
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[[Category:American politicians killed in duels]]
[[Category:Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park]]
[[Category:Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (San Francisco)]]
[[Category:Democratic Party California state senators]]
[[Category:Daly City, California]]
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[[Category:People of the California Gold Rush]]
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