James Blaine: “He was never swayed from his conclusion by the passion of the hour, and he met the gravest responsibilities with even…”

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.

You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their duty.

Under such circumstances, to send a military force into any State, with orders to act against the people, would be simply making war upon them.