I have got you together to hear what I have written down. I do not wish your advice about the main matterfor that I have determined for myself.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

That our government should have been maintained in its original form from its establishment until now, is not much to be wondered at. It had many props to support it through that period, which now are decayed, and crumbled away. Through that period, it was felt by all, to be an undecided experiment; now, it is understood to be a successful one.

But the proclamation, as law, either is valid, or is not valid. If it is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid, it can not be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought to life.

Anxiety beclouds the future.

The surest way to reveal one's character is not through adversity but by giving them power.

Such will be a great lesson of peace: teaching men that what they cannot take by an election, neither can they take it by war.