How little do they see what really is, who frame their hasty judgment upon that which seems.

We have been taught to regard a representative of the people as a sentinel on the watch-tower of liberty.

Justice, sir, is the great interest of man on earth. It is the ligament which holds civilized beings and civilized nations together. Wherever her temple stands, and so long as it is duly honored, there is a foundation for general security, general happiness, and the improvement and progress of our race.

The people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.

The inherent right in the people to reform their government, I do not deny; and they have another right, and that is to resist unconstitutional laws without overturning the government.

Inconsistencies of opinion, arising from changes of circumstances, are often justifiable.

..if the Northern states refuse, willfully and deliberately, to carry into effect that part of the Constitution which respects the restoration of fugitive slaves, and Congress provide no remedy, the South would no longer be bound to observe the compact. A bargain can not be broken on one side, and still bind the other side.