The first is that vast untried power springing from the injunction that “the United States shall guaranty to every State in this Union a republican form of government.” This power, long dormant, sprang into activity with the Acts of Secession.
Sumner discusses a dormant constitutional power related to guaranteeing republican governance in states, activated by secession.
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Tendencies of nations, as revealed in history, teach that our aims are in harmony with prevailing laws, which God, in his benevolence, has ordained for mankind.
Men are erring and mortal; principles are steadfast and immortal.
Their existence is a disgrace to civilization; for it implies the common consent of nations to the Arbitrament of War, as regulated by these laws.
This will be the FREEDOM POWER, whose single object will be to resist the SLAVE POWER.
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