They did not object to their inherent and essential justice and rightfulness, but with instinctive caution they feared that an attempt to wipe away the prejudices of two centuries in a single day might lead to a dangerous re-action, and to a consequent change in the political control of the country.
Blaine articulates the fears among Republicans regarding the potential backlash from rapid social changes, emphasizing the complexity of reform.
Share
More from James Blaine
With whatever strength or prestige the President left Washington, he certainly returned to the Capital personally discredited and politically ruined.
An avenging God cannot sleep while such things find countenance.
The need of action and of energy so pressed upon him that he found no time to utter lamentation, none to indulge even in the most sacred personal grief.
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.
Other voices in this conversation
