An American citizen, with every office wide open to his honorable ambition, in whom are all the great possibilities of our Republic, who may be anything according to merit, is exposed to a scourge which descends upon the soul as the scourge of Slavery descended upon the flesh.
Sumner describes the paradox of an American citizen facing discrimination akin to slavery.
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They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.
Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.
In this contest, we may borrow from the ancient Greek, who, when his hands were cut off, fought with his stumps, and even with his teeth.
I am opposed to a tariff for protection merely, and not for revenue."--Letter to John K.
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