But the sympathy which their condition under other circumstances might have evoked in the North, was stifled by the pertinent consideration that they had refused other forms of Reconstruction, and had wilfully drawn upon themselves all that was unwelcome in the one now about to be enforced.
Blaine discusses the Northern perspective on Southern resistance to Reconstruction efforts.
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It is to the eminent credit of the Republican members of Congress that they stood in a crisis of this magnitude true to principle, firm against all the power and all the patronage of the Administration.
Crises often arise in the conduct of National affairs when cherished opinions must be sacrificed and new departures taken.
The wisdom of maintaining that institution was abundantly vindicated by the results of the war.
Emboldened by the support of the National Administration, the Southern leaders believed that they could carry their designs through, and, instead of being restrained by the protest or the advice of Republicans, they chose with apparent…
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