Abraham Lincoln: “To now abandon them would be not only to relinquish a lever of power, but would also be a cruel and an astounding breach…”

Important principles may and must be inflexible.

The question is, will it be wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to reject and disperse it?

Grant that he desires the elective franchise, will he not attain it sooner by saving the already advanced steps towards it, than by running backward over them?

I am considering, and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action will be proper.