Ex-Governor Henry Wise of Virginia, who urged the formation of committees of public safety, gloried in his reputation as the “Danton of the Secession Movement in Virginia.” Carried away by an excess of Robespierrian zeal, a Georgia disunionist warned cooperationists that “we will go for revolution, and if you . . . oppose us . . .we will brand you as traitors, and chop off your heads.”
The jacobin appeal throughout history is disturbing. We have the advatange of nowing how this period of history turned out in france, but young radicals continue to glorify it even today.
