Charles Sumner: “If a commodore leaves his quarter-deck, pulls ashore, and, with his…”

On the record

If a commodore leaves his quarter-deck, pulls ashore, and, with his guns commanding a town, threatens to blow it down, is not this an act of war?

Said by

Massachusetts

Source

He poses a rhetorical question to illustrate that threatening violence in foreign territory constitutes an act of war.

More from Charles Sumner

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The only Constitutional party and party of freedom, VII. 38.

Other voices in this conversation

Charles Sumner: “If a commodore leaves his quarter-deck, pulls ashore, and, with his guns commanding a town, threatens to blow it down…”