On the record
The design was broad, patriotic, generous, and statesmanlike: the means to attain it aroused prejudices which created obstacles at every step and led to almost fatal embarrassment.
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gutenberg.orgJames Blaine: “The design was broad, patriotic, generous, and statesmanlike: the means to attain it aroused prejudices which created…”
Editor's note · Context
Blaine describes the ambitious and patriotic goals of the Reconstruction efforts and the challenges they faced.
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More from James Blaine
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.
The right of the General Government to preserve itself in its whole constitutional vigor by repelling a direct and positive aggression upon its property or its officers cannot be denied.
The States are colleagues of one another, and if some of them shall conquer the rest, and hold them as subjugated provinces, it would totally destroy the whole theory upon which they are now connected.
You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their duty.
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