On the record
When Congress first met after the close of hostilities (December, 1865), it was as a ship sailing into dangerous and unknown seas without chart of possible channels.
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gutenberg.orgJames Blaine: “When Congress first met after the close of hostilities (December, 1865), it was as a ship sailing into dangerous and…”
Editor's note · Context
Blaine uses a nautical metaphor to describe the uncertainty Congress faced after the Civil War.
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More from James Blaine
If this view of the subject be correct, as I think it is, then the Union must utterly perish at the moment when Congress shall arm one part of the people against another for any purpose beyond that of merely protecting the General…
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.
The States are colleagues of one another, and if some of them shall conquer the rest, and hold them as subjugated provinces, it would totally destroy the whole theory upon which they are now connected.
Is any portion of the people bound to contribute their money or their blood to carry on a contest like that?
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