Edward Livingston: “I rise with the fondest hopes that the bitterness engendered in this debate will at its conclusion be put aside, and…”

“I rise with the fondest hopes that the bitterness engendered in this debate will at its conclusion be put aside, and that all Members will return to their families for the holidays mindful of what has been done here by we as agents of principle. We have fulfilled our duty to our magnificent Constitution. Yes, our young men and women in the uniformed Armed Services have in these last few days set about the task of ridding the earth of the threat of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of an enemy of civilization, Saddam Hussein, and they have performed their tasks with valor and fortitude, that we may freely engage in this most unpleasant aspect of self government as was envisioned by our forefathers. I very much regret the enmity and hostility that has been bred in the Halls of Congress for the last months and years. I want so very much to pacify and cool our raging tempers and return to an era when differences were confined to the debate and not of personal attack or assassination of character. I am proud to serve in this institution, and I respect every Member of this body. Each of us stands here because a majority of roughly 600,000 people had the confidence to vest us with this authority to act as their agents in a representative democracy.”