It is within your power at this very moment not only to consumate an act of enlightened statesmanship, but, as the instrument of the Almighty, to restore to freedom a race of men.

Men ever follow willingly a daring leader: most willingly of all, in great emergencies.

We can constitutionally extirpate slavery at this time.

Property that endangers the safety of a nation should not be suffered to remain in the hands of its citizens.

And I hereby distinctly and emphatically declare that I consider myself, and earnestly desire to be considered by others, as utterly divested, now and during the rest of my life, of any such rights, the barbarous relics of a feudal, despotic system.

It is idle to await unanimity.

Property in man, always morally unjust, has become nationally dangerous.