He meant that if the black people were not allowed to vote, then they should take up arms.
Self-evident
well-timed ideas
"Fat fat the water rat, fifty bullets in your hat."
hypothesis
The phrase "How things work" or "That's how things work" may be used after an explanation has been given, indicating the explanation itself has come to an end. When used as a question, the questioner wants to know the mechanism or process on the subject at hand.
The term "Up to our eyes in Muck and bullets" was applied to conditions in the trenches of World War 1. It would be interesting to hear of any earlier precedents. Presumably saying "Through much an bullets" implies having come through (survived) appalling conditions. Paul W
The phrase "like rapid-fire" means happening quickly and continuously, similar to how a rapid-fire weapon shoots bullets in quick succession.
'Coin a phrase' - 'Quoins' are used to wedge columns of type in the printers 'chase'. Printers believed to put things in type was to make them permanent and believe this to be the origin of the phrase, 'Quoin a phrase'. (this is not the only explanation though - there are several literary uses of the phrase too!)
When you use bullets, you imply that any one of the bulleted items -- even all of them -- is related to the sentence or phrase that they follow. When you use numbers, you imply that there is a sequence, a requirement that each entry is a step and each step must be taken after the preceding step. Bullets are less formal; numbers are more formal. Bullets are a little friendlier; numbers are more professional.
The phrase "in a nutshell" means to sum something up briefly or concisely. It is often used to provide a brief summary or explanation of a complex topic or situation.
gloss
This is usually used in books , and indicates that the word/phrase requires explanation, which is then found at the base of the page