I tell our sisters in the South that so far as Tennessee is concerned she will not be dragged into a Southern or any other confederacy until she has had time to consider; and then she will go when she believes it to be her interest, and not before.

The life of a republic lies certainly in the energy, virtue, and intelligence of its citizens.

Tyranny and despotism can be exercised by many, more rigorously, more vigorously, and more severely, than by one.

Let them impeach and be damned.

I tell our sisters in the South that so far as Tennessee is concerned she will not be dragged into a Southern or any other confederacy until she has had time to consider; and then she will go when she believes it to be her interest, and not before.

Duties have been mine; consequences are God's.

When I die, I desire no better winding sheet than the Stars and Stripes, and no softer pillow than the Constitution of my country.