If the States were not left to leave the Union when their rights were interfered with, the government would have been National, but the Convention refused to baptize it by that name.

There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters

Keep cool; anger is not an argument.

There is always room at the top.

Justice, sir, is the great interest of man on earth. It is the ligament which holds civilized beings and civilized nations together.

Mr. President, I wish to speak today, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man, but as an American. I speak for the preservation of the Union. Hear me for my cause.

No power but Congress can declare war, but what is the value of this constitutional provision, if the President of his own authority may make such military movements as must bring on war?