Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees. And both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.

I have heard something said about allegiance to the South. I know no South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe any allegiance.

Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character.

I always have had, and always shall have, a profound regard for Christianity, the religion of my fathers, and for its rights, its usages and observances.

The Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then existed, but for posterity- unlimited, undefined, endless, perpetual posterity.

All legislation, all government, all society is founded upon the principle of mutual concession, politeness, comity, courtesy; upon these everything is based...Let him who elevates himself above humanity, above its weaknesses, its infirmities, its wants, its necessities, say, if he pleases, I will never compromise; but let no one who is not above the frailties of our common nature disdain compromises.

Peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must.