I do not denounce him as a coward; such language is unfitted for this audience; but, if he wishes to patch up his reputation for courage, now greatly on the wane, he will certainly have an opportunity of doing so, whenever he makes known…

No man,” said he, “with the feeling of a man in his bosom, would have sought redress here.

Of course, every menace of duel in Congress sets this law at defiance.

Let Senators, whose watchword is “the enforcement of laws,” begin by enforcing the statute which declares the Duel to be felony.

At least, let the statute cease to be a dead letter in this Chamber, where the watchword is so often heard.

But this is too much to expect while Slavery prevails here; for the Duel is part of that System of Violence which has its origin in Slavery.

It is when aroused by the Slave Question in Congress that Slave-Masters have most truly shown themselves; and here again I shall speak only of what has already passed into history.

Slavery is a perpetual fever-and-ague, under which Congress has shaken with alternate heats and chills.

Of course, on such occasions, amidst all seeming triumphs, the cause of Slavery loses, and Truth gains.

If men cannot afford to be decent, they ought to suspect the justice of their cause, or at least the motives with which they sustain it; but our Slave-Masters, not seeing the indecency of their conduct, know not their losses.

There is waste as well as economy of character; but the latter is found only in the cultivation of those principles which make Slavery impossible.

In all the completeness of his nature, he became the representative of Human Freedom.

The first struggle occurred on the Right of Petition, which Slave-Masters, with characteristic tyranny, sought to suppress.

I never can take part in any debate upon an important subject, be it only upon a mere abstraction, but a pack opens upon me of personal invective in return.

Where the South cannot effect her object by browbeating, she wheedles.

Insult, bullying, and threat characterize the Slaveholders in Congress; talk, timidity, and submission, the Representatives from the Free States.

True to the instincts of Slavery, they threatened personal indignity of every kind, and even assassination.

But the great representative of Freedom stood firm.

Black, of Georgia, raising his bludgeon, and standing in front of my seat, said to me, ‘If you repeat that language again, I will knock you down.’ It was a solemn moment for me.

I had never been knocked down, and, having some curiosity upon that subject, I repeated the language.

Dawson, of Louisiana, the same who had drawn the bowie-knife, placed his hand in his pocket and said, with an oath which I will not repeat, that he would shoot me, at the same time cocking the pistol, so that all around me could hear it…

Listening to these horrors, ancient stories of Barbarism are all outdone; and the “viper broth,” which was a favorite decoction in a barbarous age, seems to be the daily drink of American Slave-Masters.

Giddings, strong in consciousness of right, knew the dignity of his position.

He knew that it is always honorable to serve the cause of Liberty, and that it is a privilege to suffer for this cause.

Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.