On the record
Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier-boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of the wily agitator who induces him to desert?
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Blaine questions the fairness of punishing a soldier for desertion while allowing the instigator to go unpunished, highlighting a moral dilemma.
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I believe that if it should pass it will receive the sanction of nineteen-twentieths of the loyal people of the country.
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.
Such an opportunity would have been a menace to the public credit, and would have proved a constant source of corruption.
The wisdom of maintaining that institution was abundantly vindicated by the results of the war.
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