On the record
The very shock of arms in the harbor of Charleston, it was believed by many, might upon sober second thought induce Southern men to pause and consider and negotiate before taking the fatal plunge.
Source
gutenberg.orgJames Blaine: “The very shock of arms in the harbor of Charleston, it was believed by many, might upon sober second thought induce…”
Editor's note · Context
Blaine reflects on the potential for negotiation among Southern leaders during the early days of the Civil War.
Share
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 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.
But this is a totally different thing from an offensive war to punish the people for the political misdeeds of their State Government, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme.
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.
Other voices in this conversation
