James Blaine: “The colored men who took seats in both Senate and House did not appear ignorant or helpless.”

The wisdom of maintaining that institution was abundantly vindicated by the results of the war.

He had placed himself in a position from which he could not with grace retreat, and to go forward in which was still further to blight his hopes of promotion in his party.

Emboldened by the support of the National Administration, the Southern leaders believed that they could carry their designs through, and, instead of being restrained by the protest or the advice of Republicans, they chose with apparent…

Such an opportunity would have been a menace to the public credit, and would have proved a constant source of corruption.