I belive that people should fight for what they believe and only what they believe.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.

I wish all men to be free. I wish the material prosperity of the already free which I feel sure the extinction of slavery would bring.

The people know their rights, and they are never slow to assert and maintain them, when they are invaded.

And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

Persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should be adopted to influence the conduct of men. The opposite course would be a reversal of human nature, which is God's decree and can never be reversed.