Perhaps these States may be characterized in either way; and yet aristocracy, especially in origin, has something respectable, which cannot be attributed to a combination whose single distinctive element is color of the skin.
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gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Sumner critiques the concept of aristocracy based on race, emphasizing its lack of respectability compared to other forms of aristocracy.
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Above all, welcome to the united regenerated Democracy of the North, which spurns the mockery of a Republic, with professions of Freedom on the lips, while the chains of Slavery clank in the Capitol!
In this contest, we may borrow from the ancient Greek, who, when his hands were cut off, fought with his stumps, and even with his teeth.
They are but leaders of the two contending factions into which the Slave Power is divided.
They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.





