The repeal of the sacred Missouri Compromise has installed the weapons of violence: the bludgeon, the incendiary torch, the death-dealing rifle, the bristling cannon--the weapons of kingcraft, of the inquisition, of ignorance, of barbarism, of oppression.
Lincoln condemns the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, arguing it unleashed violence and oppressive forces reminiscent of tyranny.
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The question is, will it be wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to reject and disperse it?
If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business.
If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything.
I believe that it is not only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or even considering whether these States have ever been out of the Union, than with it.
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