And, although it is distasteful to me, I have sworn to support the Constitution; and, having so sworn, I cannot conceive that I do support it if I withhold from that right any necessary legislation to make it practical.
Lincoln explains his constitutional duty to support legislation for rights established by the Constitution, even when personally opposed to the underlying issue of slavery.
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I do the very best I know how--the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end.
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.
He said, with a great deal of emphasis, and with an expression of countenance I shall never forget: "When a man is sincerely penitent for his misdeeds, and gives satisfactory evidence of the same, he can safely be pardoned, and there is no…
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