The slave-breeders and slave-traders, are a small, odious and detested class, among you; and yet in politics, they dictate the course of all of you, and are as completely your masters, as you are the master of your own negroes.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.

Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time.

Money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace & conspire against it in times of adversity.

To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or as nearly as possible, is a worthy object of any good government.

If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it.

I hold that while a man exists, it is his duty to improve not only his own condition, but to assist in ameliorating mankind.