Without doing injustice to the living, it may safely be asserted that our loss is irreparable; and that among the shining hosts of the great and good who now cluster around the banner of the country, there exists no purer spirit, no more heroic soul, than that of the illustrious man whose death I join you in lamenting.

African slavery, as it exists in the United States, is a moral, a social, and a political blessing.

It is a duty we owe to posterity to see that our children shall know the virtues, and rise worthy of their sires.

If slavery be a sin, it is not yours. It does not rest on your action for its origin, on your consent for its existence. It is a common law right to property in the service of man; its origin was Divine decree.

Pray excuse me. I cannot take it.

Obstacles may retard, but they cannot long prevent the progress of a movement sanctified by its justice, and sustained by a virtuous people .

All we ask is to be let alone.