Abraham Lincoln

We must make this a land of liberty in fact, as it is in name.

But we cannot be free men if this is, by our national choice, to be a land of slavery.

Therefore, let us revere the Declaration of Independence; let us continue to obey the Constitution and the laws; let us keep step to the music of the Union.

Whatever duty urges us to do or to omit, must be done or omitted; and the recklessness with which our adversaries break the laws, or counsel their violation, should afford no example for us.

But we ourselves must not decline the burden of responsibility, nor take counsel of unworthy passions.

The Union is undergoing a fearful strain; but it is a stout old ship, and has weathered many a hard blow, and "the stars in their courses," aye, an invisible power, greater than the puny efforts of men, will fight for us.

Such are the inconsistencies of slavery, where a horse is more sacred than a man; and the essence of squatter or popular sovereignty--I don't care how you call it--is that if one man chooses to make a slave of another, no third man shall…

One great trouble in the matter is, that slavery is an insidious and crafty power, and gains equally by open violence of the brutal as well as by sly management of the peaceful.

Do not mistake that the ballot is stronger than the bullet.

I will not say that we may not sooner or later be compelled to meet force by force; but the time has not yet come, and if we are true to ourselves, may never come.

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…

Now, let us harmonize, my friends, and appeal to the moderation and patriotism of the people: to the sober second thought; to the awakened public conscience.

Not that he hated slavery less, but that he loved the whole Union more.

Slavery is a violation of the eternal right.

The battle of freedom is to be fought out on principle.

And, unless truth be a mockery and justice a hollow lie, we will be in the majority after a while, and then the revolution which we will accomplish will be none the less radical from being the result of pacific measures.

We will make converts day by day; we will grow strong by calmness and moderation; we will grow strong by the violence and injustice of our adversaries.

We must not belittle nor overlook the facts of our condition--that we are new and comparatively weak, while our enemies are entrenched and relatively strong.

We should reserve our highest censure for the authors of the mischief, and not for the catspaws which they use.

And so history repeats itself; and even as slavery has kept its course by craft, intimidation, and violence in the past, so it will persist, in my judgment, until met and dominated by the will of a people bent on its restriction.

By the same right as, and no higher or greater than, slavery is seeking dominion in Kansas: by political force--peaceful, if that will suffice; by the torch (as in Kansas) and the bludgeon (as in the Senate chamber), if required.

It yields nothing itself; it keeps all it has, and gets all it can besides.

Monstrous crimes are committed in its name by persons collectively which they would not dare to commit as individuals.

It gathers strength, like a rolling snow-ball, by its own infamy.

This thing of slavery is more powerful than its supporters--even than the high priests that minister at its altar.