They realized that with the secession of Virginia, completed and proclaimed, they must do one of two things--either proceed at once to organize a State government which would be faithful to the National Constitution, or drift helplessly into anarchy and thus contribute to the success of the rebellion.
Blaine highlights the urgency for loyal Virginians to establish a government to avoid chaos after secession.
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In Congressional districts where the colored race constituted one-half of the total population (and in many instances the proportion was even larger), the vote of one white man offset the vote of two in a Northern district where suffrage…
But in the treatment of the colored man, now proposed, there was absolute heartlessness and rank injustice.
The wisdom of maintaining that institution was abundantly vindicated by the results of the war.
Their success as civil magistrates, as legislators, as executives was not less marked and meritorious than their illustrious service in war.
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