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

Idea is a noble one — an idea that fills and expands all generous souls; the idea of equality — the equality of all men before human tribunals and human laws, as they all are equal before the Divine tribunal and Divine laws.

It would be contrary to the spirit of the American Government to use force to subjugate the South.

The two systems slave and free-labor are incompatible. They have never permanently existed together in one country, and they never can.

Revolutions never go backward.

I speak on due consideration because Britain, France, and Mexico, have abolished slavery, and all other European states are preparing to abolish it as speedily as they can.

It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces.