On the record
He would not permit the plea of unsound mind to be made on his behalf, and to the end he behaved with that calm courage which always attracts respect and admiration.
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gutenberg.orgJames Blaine: “He would not permit the plea of unsound mind to be made on his behalf, and to the end he behaved with that calm courage…”
Editor's note · Context
Blaine admires John Brown's courage and refusal to claim insanity during his trial.
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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?
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.
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.
Without the exercise of those functions which belong exclusively to the civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be the physical strength which the Government has at its command.
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