Sir, there is no Christian nation, thus free to choose as we are, which would establish slavery.

The United States are a political state, or organized society, whose end is government, for the security, welfare, and happiness of all who live under its protection.

The right to have a slave implies the right in some one to make the slave; that right must be equal and mutual, and this would resolve society into a state of perpetual war.

No man will ever be President of the United States who spells 'negro' with two gs.

Revolutions never go backward.

Therefore, states are equal in natural rights.

The circumstances of the world are so variable that an irrevocable purpose or opinion is almost synonymous with a foolish one.