Freemasonry is an institution calculated to benefit mankind.

Secession, like any other REVOLUTIONARY ACT, may be morally justified by the extremity of oppression; but to call it a constitutional right is confounding the meaning of terms.

Perpetuity is stamped upon the Constitution by the blood of our fathers.

There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing.

Americans are not a perfect people, but we are called to a perfect mission.

There goes a man made by the Lord Almighty and not by his tailor.

I feel in the depths of my soul that it is the highest, most sacred, and most irreversible part of my obligation to preserve the union of these states, although it may cost me my life.