If the negro is a man, why then my ancient faith teaches me that ‘all men are created equal,' and that there can be no moral right in connection with one man's making a slave of another.

I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

Must a government be too strong for the liberties of its people or too weak to maintain its own existence?

I think slavery is wrong, morally, and politically. I desire that it should be no further spread in these United States, and I should not object if it should gradually terminate in the whole Union.

Money possesses no value to the state other than that given to it by circulation.

The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776.