Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.

Most people are as happy as they want to be.

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.

There is an important sense in which government is distinctive from administration. One is perpetual, the other is temporary and changeable. A man may be loyal to his government and yet oppose the particular principles and methods of administration.

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

I am not in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office.

To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards of men.