More allowance is made for the excitement and for what he believed to be the exigency of the hour, for the sentiments in which he had been educated, for the force of association, and for his genuine belief that he was doing a valuable work towards the preservation of the Union.
Blaine emphasizes the need to understand the historical context and motivations behind a person's actions during a tumultuous time.
Share
More from James Blaine
If you are not ready to be the Moses of an oppressed people, do not become their Pharaoh.
He was a lawyer in full practice, a man of the highest integrity, without fear and without reproach.
I refer myself not to the men of my time, but to the judgment of history.
An attempt to guarantee and protect a revived State government constructed in whole or in preponderating part from the very element against whose hostility and violence it is to be protected is simply absurd.
Other voices in this conversation
