Would you drop the war where it is, or would you prosecute it in future with elder-stalk squirts charged with rose-water?

It does not lie in rounding the rough angles of the war, but in removing the necessity for the war.

If they will not do this, if they prefer to hazard all for the sake of destroying the government, it is for them to consider whether it is probable that I will surrender the government to save them from losing all.

I shall not do more than I can; but I shall do all I can to save the government, which is my sworn duty as well as my personal inclination.

I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim to and warn all persons within the contemplation of said sixth section to cease participating in, aiding, countenancing, or abetting the existing rebellion or any…

That military commanders within the States of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas in an orderly manner seize and use any property, real or personal, which may be necessary or…

That military and naval commanders shall employ as laborers within and from said States so many persons of African descent as can be advantageously used for military or naval purposes, giving them reasonable wages for their labor.

that while property may be destroyed for proper military objects, none shall be destroyed in wantonness of malice.

That as to both property and persons of African descent accounts shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in detail to show quantities and amounts and from whom both property and such persons shall have come, as a basis upon which…

It is the duty of all aliens residing in the United States to submit to and obey the laws and respect the authority of the Government.

But they can not be required to take an oath of allegiance to this Government, because it conflicts with the duty they owe to their own sovereigns.

I am ready to say now, I think it is proper for our military commanders to employ as laborers as many persons of African descent as can be used to advantage.

That we may not touch property lying within our reach because we can not give personal notice to an owner who is absent endeavoring to destroy the Government is certainly not very satisfactory.

By fair construction persons within these sections are not to be punished without regular trials in duly constituted courts.

For the patriotic act in making this magnificent and valuable present to the country, I recommend that some suitable acknowledgment be made.

I perceive no objection to Congress deciding in advance that they shall be free.

There is much in the bill to which I perceive no objection.

For the reasons stated, I return the bill to the House, in which it originated.

To the tenth section I make no objection.

I think the greater punishment can not be constitutionally inflicted in a different form for the same offense.

Please inform the Senate that I shall be obliged if they will postpone the adjournment at least one day beyond the time which I understand to be now fixed for it.

Herewith is a draft of a bill to compensate any State which may abolish slavery within its limits, the passage of which substantially as presented I respectfully and earnestly recommend.

Discarding punctilio and maxims adapted to more manageable times, and looking only to the unprecedentedly stern facts of our case, can you do better in any possible event?

How much better for you as seller, and the nation as buyer, to sell out and buy out that without which the war could never have been, than to sink both the thing to be sold and the price of it in cutting one another's throats!

If the war continues long, as it must if the object be not sooner attained, the institution in your States will be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion,--by the mere incidents of the war.