Political Quotes

On the record
To this I am constrained by the spirit, if not by the letter of the Constitution, which forbids any person in my situation from accepting any present of any kind whatever from a foreign State.
Said by
Charles Sumner
Massachusetts

Editor's note · Context

Sumner explains his constitutional obligation that prevents him from accepting gifts from foreign states.

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Tendencies of nations, as revealed in history, teach that our aims are in harmony with prevailing laws, which God, in his benevolence, has ordained for mankind.

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They who strive after it, Ixion-like, embrace a cloud.

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It is true, doubtless, that there are various races of men; but there is but one great Human Family, in which Caucasian, Ethiopian, Chinese, and Indian are all brothers, children of one Father, and heirs to one happiness.

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This will be the FREEDOM POWER, whose single object will be to resist the SLAVE POWER.

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