They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit.

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.

Can any man doubt that, even in spite of the people's will, slavery will triumph through violence, unless that will be made manifest and enforced?

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

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 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.

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.

Slavery is a violation of the eternal right.

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

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.

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…

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.

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

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.

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…

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

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.

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.

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

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

But let us, meanwhile, appeal to the sense and patriotism of the people, and not to their prejudices; let us spread the floods of enthusiasm here aroused all over these vast prairies, so suggestive of freedom.

There is both a power and a magic in popular opinion.

We have higher aims; we will have more serious business than to dally with temporary measures.

We must not be led by excitement and passion to do that which our sober judgments would not approve in our cooler moments.

But we must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot; we must be calm and moderate, and consider the whole difficulty, and determine what is possible and just.