It was not a model style for the President of the United States to enter the capital of a conquered country, yet there was a moral in it all which had more effect than if he had come surrounded with great armies and heralded by the booming of cannon. He came, armed with the majesty of the law, to put his seal to the act which had been established by the bayonets of the Union soldiers the establishment of peace and goodwill between the North and the South, and liberty to all mankind who dwell upon our shores." - Meaning and context.">
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p. 296, emphasis added
“

It was not a model style for the President of the United States to enter the capital of a conquered country, yet there was a moral in it all which had more effect than if he had come surrounded with great armies and heralded by the booming of cannon. He came, armed with the majesty of the law, to put his seal to the act which had been established by the bayonets of the Union soldiers the establishment of peace and goodwill between the North and the South, and liberty to all mankind who dwell upon our shores.

— David Dixon Porter

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "It was not a model style for the President of the United States to enter the capital of a conquered country, yet there was a moral in it all which had more effect than if he had come surrounded with great armies and heralded by the booming of cannon. He came, armed with the majesty of the law, to put his seal to the act which had been established by the bayonets of the Union soldiers the establishment of peace and goodwill between the North and the South, and liberty to all mankind who dwell upon our shores." in the context of "p. 296, emphasis added" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "David Dixon Porter" (Quotes, 1880s, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (1885): Full text of Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (1885)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#David Dixon Porter#establishment#established#surrounded#president#conquered#heralded#bayonets#soldiers#goodwill#capital#country
David Dixon Porter

About David Dixon Porter

David Dixon Porter (8 June 1813 – 13 February 1891) was a United States Navy admiral and a member of one of the most distinguished families in the history of the U.S. Navy. Promoted as the second U.S. Navy officer ever to attain the rank of admiral, after his adoptive brother David G. Farragut, Porter helped improve the Navy as the Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy after significant service in the American Civil War.