Whitelaw Reid: “No public duty is more urgent at this moment than to resist from the…”

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No public duty is more urgent at this moment than to resist from the very outset the concession of such a possibility.

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Whitelaw Reid

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Reid emphasizes the urgency of resisting the idea of admitting new territories as states from the outset.

More from Whitelaw Reid

The danger commences with the first extra-continental State.

Brushing aside, then, these bugbears, gentlemen, what are the obvious duties of the hour?

We are all washed under, and the most of us only live peaceable lives by the sufferance of our Rebel neighbors.

I never saw hands more cheerful or contented than some managed on this last plan were.

Whitelaw Reid: “No public duty is more urgent at this moment than to resist from the very outset the concession of such a possibility.”