Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction ... nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

Will springs from the two elements of moral sense and self-interest.

It must now atone in blood for its complicity in wickedness.

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion. We cannot escape history. We will be remembered in spite of ourselves. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honour or dishonour, to the last generation. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, our last best hope of Earth.

If both factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably be about right. Beware of being assailed by one and praised by the other.

In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong.