The Chicago Journal proclaimed that the South had “outraged the Constitution, set at defiance all law, and trampled under foot that flag which has been the glorious and consecrated symbol of American Liberty.” Nor did northern Democratic editors fall behind their Republican rivals in patriotism. “We were born and bred under the stars and stripes,” wrote a Pittsburgh Democrat. Although the South may have had just grievances against Republicans, “when the South becomes an enemy to the American system of government . . . and fires upon the flag . . . our influence goes for that flag, no matter
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