James Blaine

In the popular opinion it was a radical measure, and therein lay its chief merit.

They had expected to arouse fresh revolt, but they met a people tired of conflict and longing for repose under the flag of the Nation.

His success however was of overwhelming importance to the National Government and put a stop to an invasion of Pennsylvania which might have been disastrous in the extreme.

That portion of the earth's surface which is inhabited by the people of the United States is well adapted for the home of one National family, but it is not well adapted for two or more.

If the purse of the Nation was to be handed over to the control of those who were not ready to use the last dollar in the war for the preservation of the Union, the President was resolved that every voter in the Loyal States should be made…

He believed that the destruction of slavery was essential to the safety of the Union, and he trusted with composure to the discerning judgment and ultimate decision of the people.

He plainly warned them that every thing was at stake and that if they were unwilling to meet the trial with the courage and the sacrifice demanded, they were foredoomed to disaster, to defeat, to dishonor.

Having resisted in vain the aggressive legislation of Congress already accomplished, they could hardly fail to see that the institution of slavery was threatened with utter destruction.

To you more than to any others the privilege is given to assure that happiness, to swell that grandeur, to link your own names therewith forever.

Once relieved, its form of government is saved to the world, its beloved history and cherished memories are vindicated, its happy future assured and rendered inconceivably grand.

Our common country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest views and boldest action to bring a speedy relief.

As you would perpetuate popular government, I beseech you that you do in no wise omit this.

You are patriots and statesmen, and as such I pray you to consider this proposition and at least commend it to the consideration of your States and people.

Slavery was not only the inciting cause of the rebellion but was its chief strength and support in the South and at the same time a weakening element to the Union cause in the Loyal States.

He would persuade them that both could not be saved and that they must choose the one which they regarded as the more worthy of preservation.

He determined therefore to lay before the people a choice between the Union and Slavery.

He saw that as the Administration was committed to the partial policy which involved all the danger of a re-action and a retreat, it would be wise to commit it to the bold, far- reaching, radical and aggressive policy from which it would…

A House of Representatives controlling the power to tax and the power to appropriate could, if hostile to the war, neutralize and destroy all the efforts of the Executive.

The power of the purse controls the power of the sword.

They made the distinct and unmistakable issue that a war for the abolition of slavery could not have their support; that the Government of the United States was made for white men, and that negroes could not be admitted to terms of…

The amount paid on incomes for a single year reached seventy-three millions of dollars, the leading merchant of New York paying in one check a tax of four hundred thousand dollars on an income of four millions.

The system of internal revenue of which the foregoing is no exaggeration proved in all respects effective.

Bankers and pawnbrokers, lawyers and horse-dealers, physicians and confectioners, commercial brokers and peddlers, proprietors of theatres and jugglers on the street, were indiscriminately summoned to aid the National Treasury.

It was one of the most searching, thorough, comprehensive systems of taxation ever devised by any Government.

Money must not merely be promised, it must be paid.