It was an extraordinary proposition that the South, after all the demoralization wrought by the war, should be called upon to exhibit a higher degree of political justice and virtue than the North was willing to practice.
Blaine points out the unfairness of expecting the South to demonstrate political virtue when the North was not doing the same.
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You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their duty.
Is any portion of the people bound to contribute their money or their blood to carry on a contest like that?
Without the exercise of those functions which belong exclusively to the civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be the physical strength which the Government has at its command.
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…
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