I never justify, sustain, or in any way or to any extent uphold this cruel, heartless, aimless unnecessary war.

In a body [like Congress] where there are more than one hundred talking lawyers, you can make no calculation upon the termination of any debate.

There's nothing left . . . but to get drunk.

The dangers of a concentration of all power in the general government of a confederacy so vast as ours are too obvious to be disregarded.

A Republic without parties is a complete anomaly. The histories of all popular governments show absurd is the idea of their attempting to exist without parties.

I can express no better hope for my country than that the kind Providence which smiled upon our fathers may enable their children to preserve the blessings they have inherited.

With the Union my best and dearest earthly hopes are entwined.