The United States might or might not admit Louisiana to the Union, for the General Government was sole judge as to time and expediency--but when once admitted, the power of the State was greater than the power of the Government which permitted the State to come into existence.
Blaine asserts that once Louisiana is admitted to the Union, its power surpasses that of the federal government that allowed its entry.
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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.
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.
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