On the record
Loitering around tippling-shops, one of the offenses enumerated, was in far larger proportions the habit of white men, but they were left untouched and the negro alone was arrested and punished.
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Blaine highlights the hypocrisy in law enforcement, where white men were often exempt from punishment for similar offenses.
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The deep-seated prejudice against color is assiduously cultivated by the public journals and leads to acts of cruelty, oppression, and murder, which the local authorities are at no pains to prevent or punish.
In my judgment our sole authority for the acts which we have done during the last four years was the authority communicated to Congress by the Constitution to suppress insurrection.
That is his work and it cannot properly be taken out of his hands.
Such an opportunity would have been a menace to the public credit, and would have proved a constant source of corruption.
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