The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States: Embracing an Account of the Scenes and Incidents of His Boyhood; the Struggles of His Youth; the Might of His Early Manhood; His Valor As a Soldier; His Career As a Statesman; His Election to the Presidency; and the Tragic Story of His Death.Ridpath, John Clark
History
The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States: Embracing an Account of the Scenes and Incidents of His Boyhood; the Struggles of His Youth; the Might of His Early Manhood; His Valor As a Soldier; His Career As a Statesman; His Election to the Presidency; and the Tragic Story of His Death.
Ridpath, John Clark
Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881
“So slavery sat in our national Capitol. Its huge bulk filled the
temple of our liberty, touching it from side to side. Mr. Lincoln,
on the 1st of January, 1863, struck it on the cheek, and the
faithless and unbelieving among us expected to see the fabric of our
institutions dissolve into chaos because their idol had fallen. He
struck it again; Congress and the States repeated the blow, and its
unsightly carcass lies rotting in our streets. The sun shines in the
heavens brighter than before. Let us remove the carcass and leave
not a vestige of the monster. We shall never have done that until we
have dared to come up to the spirit of the Pilgrim covenant of 1620,
and declare that all men shall be consulted in regard to the
disposition of their lives, liberty, and property. The Pilgrim
fathers proceeded on the doctrine that every man was supposed to
know best what he wanted, and had the right to a voice in the
disposition of himself.”
A second fact to be recognized was that 7,000,000 white men were waiting
to have their case adjudged and their political status fixed.
“As to _persons_ we must see to it that hereafter personal liberty
and personal rights are placed in the keeping of the nation; that
the right to life, liberty, and property are to be guaranteed to
citizens in reality, and not left to the caprice of mobs and
contingencies of local legislation.... As to _States_, the burden of
proof rests on each one of them, to show whether it is fit to enter
the Federal circle in full communion of privileges. Men can not
change their hearts—love what they hated, and hate what they
loved—upon the issue of a battle; but our duty is to demand that
before we admit them they shall give sufficient assurance that,
whatever they believe or wish, their action in the future shall be
such as loyal men can approve.”
How far does that speech differ from the reconstruction policy actually
adopted?
Thirteen years later, on June 27, 1879, the pending bill being one for
the appropriations for United States marshals, General Garfield said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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