And no citizen who loves his country would
in any case whatever resort to forcible resistance unless he clearly saw
that the time had come when a freeman should prefer death to submission;
for if such a struggle is once begun, and the citizens of one section
of the country arrayed in arms against those of another in doubtful
conflict, let the battle result as it may, there will be an end of the
Union and with it an end to the hopes of freedom. The victory of the
injured would not secure to them the blessings of liberty; it would
avenge their wrongs, but they would themselves share in the common ruin.
But the Constitution can not be maintained nor the Union preserved,
in opposition to public feeling, by the mere exertion of the coercive
powers confided to the General Government. The foundations must be
laid in the affections of the people, in the security it gives to life,
liberty, character, and property in every quarter of the country, and in
the fraternal attachment which the citizens of the several States bear
to one another as members of one political family, mutually contributing
to promote the happiness of each other.
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