All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government as originally organized should be administered in purity and truth.

The war... was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forebearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides.

Private and public life are subject to the same rules-truth and manliness are two qualities that will carry you through this world much better than policy or tact of expediency or other words that were devised to conceal a deviation from a straight line.

So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that slavery is abolished.

It is history that teaches us to hope.

We must...submit ourselves in adversity to the will of a merciful God as cheerfully as in prosperity.

Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or to keep one.