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There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it [slavery]. But there is only one proper way and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is by legislative authority.
-- George Washington, April 12, 1786
This momentous question [concerning the existence of slavery in the new state of Missouri], like a firebell in the night, awakened me and filled me with terror. I considered it at once to be the knell of the union.
-- Thomas Jefferson, April 1820
Slavery is a great foul stain upon the North American Union, and it is a contemplation worth of the most exalted soul whether its total abolition is or is not practicable.
-- John Quincy Adams, February 24, 1920
Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the effect of slavery on national wealth and prosperity, if we may trust to experience, there can be no doubt that it has never yet produced an injurious effect on individual on national character.
-- Robert Y. Hayne, US Senator from South Carolina, January 21, 1830
I have, Senators, believed from the first that the agitation of the subject of slavery would, if not prevented by some timely and effective measure, end in disunion.
-- John Calhoun, US Senator from South Carolina, March 4, 1850
In this enlightened age there are few, I believe, but what will acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil in any country.
-- Robert E. Lee, December 12, 1856
A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free... It will become all one thing or all the other.
-- Abraham Lincoln, June 16, 1858
I do not think that the Negro is any kin of mine at all... I believe that this government of ours was founded, and wisely founded, upon the white basis. It was made by white men, for the benefit of white men and their prosperity, to be executed and managed by white men.
-- Stephen Douglas, US Senator from Illinois, July 17, 1858 |