So Why Did People Duel?
A Popular Image, A New Take
When you think of a duel, the popular image emerges of two upper-class gentlemen firing pistols or crossing swords over a matter of honor This image is not without merit- one’s honor and status stand at the heart of the practice, and indeed many would be willing to die to defend their honor. But even with the outward appearance of barbarity and immorality attached to a duel, there may be a level of rationality in defending one’s honor in a duel.
More to Honor than Just Honor
In the modern day, it is easy to view dueling as an irrational and reckless practice, murder disguised by a thin veneer of ritual for the wealthy. For this reason, many of the public detested the practice. The fallout from killing someone in a duel did not justify the risk in the eyes of the public- John McCarty would be haunted to the end of his days from his duel with Armistead Mason, Aaron Burr’s political career died following his killing of Alexander Hamilton, and Commodore James Barron would be removed from command following his duel with Commodore Stephen Decatur. The stigma involved would serve just as much a deterrent as the risk of death or serious injury. So why risk a duel? Why put your life on the line for a concept such as honor?
The concept of honor is not as intangible as it would seem. In the 19th century, honor related to one’s ‘reputation for fair dealing, honoring contracts, and paying debts’, linked with an individual’s sense of ‘financial responsibility’.[1] The practice of dueling to avenge one’s honor is nowhere near as senseless as modern viewers may consider, as an attack on one’s honor meant an attack on one’s integrity, honesty, and standing. In the days before financial capital was the arbiter of wealth and worth, honor counted as much as material wealth in the Antebellum South. The violence of a duel was different than that of an impromptu fight- there was a code of conduct and a series of rules which combatants would adhere to, which required a level of sincerity in action for those involved. In this way, dueling served as a court for which a person’s honor was judged or to rectify an attack on a person’s honor.
[1] Kingston, Christopher G., and Robert E. Wright. "The Deadliest of Games: The Institution of Dueling." Southern Economic Journal 76, no. 4 (2010): 1094-106