“The courage of New England was the courage of conscience. It did not rise to that insane and awful passion, the love of war for itself.“
— Rufus Choate (1799-1859), American lawyer, orator and U.S. senator, in a 1834 address at Ipswich, Mass., of which he was a native. The town calls itself “The Birthplace of American Independence.’’ You can look up why.