But you answer, that the Constitution recognizes property in slaves. It would be sufficient, then, to reply, that this constitutional recognition must be void, because it is repugnant to the law of nature and of nations.
William H. SewardIt is the maintenance of slavery by law in a state, not parallels of latitude, that makes its a southern state; and the absence of this, that makes it a northern state.
William H. SewardThe two systems slave and free-labor are incompatible. They have never permanently existed together in one country, and they never can.
William H. Seward