By the blessings of heaven I mean to live and die, please God, in the faith of my mother.

Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of the earth

The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation.

The American people, intrenched in freedom at home, take their love for it with them wherever they go.

I have already transmitted to Congress the report of the naval court of inquiry on the destruction of the battleship Maine in the harbor of Havana during the night of the fifteenth of February. The destruction of that noble vessel has filled the national heart with inexpressible horror. Two hundred and fifty-eight brave sailors and marines and two officers of our Navy, reposing in the fancied security of a friendly harbor, have been hurled to death, grief and want brought to their homes and sorrow to the nation.

The American flag has not been planted on foreign soil to acquire more territory but for humanity's sake.

Our past has gone into history.