We decline to pledge ourselves that the debts incurred in aid of the Rebellion shall not in the future be paid by our States.
James Blaine: “We decline to pledge ourselves that the debts incurred in aid of the Rebellion shall not in the future be paid by our…”
Editor's note · Context
Blaine articulates his position against paying debts incurred during the Rebellion, emphasizing his views on accountability.
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You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their duty.
All these provisions are made to protect the States, not to authorize an attack by one part of the country upon another; to preserve the peace, and not to plunge them into civil war.
And if Congress shall break up the present Union by unconstitutionally putting strife and enmity and armed hostility between different sections of the country, instead of the domestic tranquility which the Constitution was meant to insure…
But this is a totally different thing from an offensive war to punish the people for the political misdeeds of their State Government, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme.





