James Blaine: “But he was gifted with strong common sense, and had that quick judgment of men which contributes so essentially to…”

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.

All these provisions are made to protect the States, not to authorize an attack by one part of the country upon another; to preserve the peace, and not to plunge them into civil war.

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.