Abraham Lincoln: “Public opinion in this country is everything.”

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.

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?

Important principles may and must be inflexible.

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