On the record
It was in their power to repair, in large degree, the blunders of policy--nay, the crimes against human rights--which the Reconstruction Conventions had abetted if not committed.
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gutenberg.orgJames Blaine: “It was in their power to repair, in large degree, the blunders of policy--nay, the crimes against human rights--which…”
Editor's note · Context
Blaine reflects on the potential for new Legislatures to correct past injustices against African Americans during Reconstruction.
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All these provisions are made to protect the States, not to authorize an attack by one part of the country upon another; to preserve the peace, and not to plunge them into civil war.
The right of the General Government to preserve itself in its whole constitutional vigor by repelling a direct and positive aggression upon its property or its officers cannot be denied.
But what if the feeling in any State against the United States should become so universal that the Federal officers themselves (including judges, district attorneys, and marshals) would be reached by the same influences, and resign their…
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.
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