"Now, the issue of the Civil War as Lincoln presented it, in both his inaugural address on March 4th, and in the message to Congress in Special Session on July 4th, four months later, was in essence this. In ratifying the Constitution, each state had committed itself to accepting the results of elections conducted under the rules of the Constitution. The election of 1860 had been conducted under the rules of the Constitution. If there were any violations of those rules, it was by the Southern states in refusing to allow Republican electors on the ballot. But there was nothing that the Republican Party had done. There was nothing in the electoral procedures of the free states, or, for that matter, of the slave states with this exception which justified anyone in saying that the results of this election were not Constitutional results."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from the United StatesPhilosophers from the United StatesEducators from the United StatesHistorians from the United StatesJews from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_V._Jaffa
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Harry V. Jaffa
Harry Victor Jaffa (7 October 1918 – 10 January 2015) was an American historian, writer, and collegiate professor from New York City, known for his writings on the American Civil War.
171 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Harry V. Jaffa →
Related Quotes
"[T]he generation of the Founding Fathers, who certainly knew the story of Noah and his sons, nonetheless believed in …"
"That one man can run faster than another is no reason to prevent the latter from entering the race. Indeed, until the…"
"[S]laves are never referred to in the Constitution as anything but 'persons', a characterization that is perfectly ne…"
"This remarkable address conveys, more than any other contemporary document, not only the soul of the Confederacy but …"
"According to Davis it did not require a Galileo or a Harvey (or a Darwin) to discover the natural inferiority of the …"
"In 1860 Senator Wilson, like Lincoln, could not ask for recognition of more than the black man's natural rights. But …"
"And it’s important to understand the sequence of events, and the ideas that accompanied that sequence of events that …"
"[S]lavery existed among the Americans largely because of the action of the crown. For the king to have been complicit…"
"The paradox of calling the same human beings persons and property brings the cause of the Civil War into the sharpest…"
"South Carolina cites, loosely, but with substantial accuracy, some of the language of the original Declaration. That …"