On the record
Just emerging from a condition of slavery in which their labor had been constantly exacted without fee or reward of any kind, it was impossible that they could be the owners of any thing except their own bodies.
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gutenberg.orgJames Blaine: “Just emerging from a condition of slavery in which their labor had been constantly exacted without fee or reward of any…”
Editor's note · Context
Blaine emphasizes the economic struggles faced by newly freed African Americans who owned nothing but their own bodies.
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More from James Blaine
Is any portion of the people bound to contribute their money or their blood to carry on a contest like that?
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.
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.
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