Political Quotes

On the record
In sustaining such a representative, you sacrifice substance to form,--you abandon the living principle, content with the dead letter,--you “keep the word of promise to the ear, and break it to the hope,”--you offer to the people of Oregon a stone, when they demand bread.
Said by
Charles Sumner
Massachusetts

Editor's note · Context

Sumner critiques the idea of prioritizing form over substance in representation, emphasizing the needs of the people.

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I am opposed to a tariff for protection merely, and not for revenue."--Letter to John K.

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Their existence is a disgrace to civilization; for it implies the common consent of nations to the Arbitrament of War, as regulated by these laws.

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Nay, more,--if it would be criminal in these several clusters of States to reëstablish the Institution of War as Arbiter of Justice, then is it criminal in the Commonwealth of Nations to continue it.

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It is larger than the entire profit of all the commerce and manufactures of the world.

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