I know of no words of any language adequate to convey to you the gratitude I feel in my inmost soul towards you for your efforts and final success in defeating the bill for the readmission of Louisiana as a State into the Union, with the…

The white people of this country have been so accustomed to regard and treat us as their natural inferiors, that we dread the very thought of submitting to them the adjustment of our rights after their own are made secure.

What is not gained for us now will not be obtained for a quarter of a century after peace is declared.

The friends of Freedom all over the country have looked to you, and confided in you, of all men in the United States Senate, during all this terrible war.

They will look to you all the more, now that peace dawns, and the final settlement of our national troubles is at hand.

God grant you strength equal to your day and your duties! is my prayer and that of millions.

Resolutions declaring the duty of the United States to guaranty Republican Governments in the Rebel States, on the basis of the Declaration of Independence; so that the new Governments shall be founded on the consent of the governed, and…

Let the work proceed, until the sublime structure stands forth worthy in everything of the destinies it enshrines.

Better wait for the days of peace, soon to come, I trust, when your means will be greater, and you will approach the question in a calmer mood.

Are the merits of this artist so peculiar and commanding that he should be taken and all others left?

At least, I know that there are other artists in the country who deserve well of those who assume the patronage of art.

Are you ready, in this off-hand way, without inquiry, without even hearing their names, to discriminate against them all?

But I doubt if it be desirable to keep before us any picture of war, especially of a war with fellow-citizens.

There are moral triumphs to which art may better lend its charms.

I need only refer to the Proclamation of Emancipation, which belongs to the great events of history.

Provided, That in the National Capitol, dedicated to the National Union, there shall be no picture of a victory in battle with our own fellow-citizens.

I speak from no motive of self, and from no personal interest whatever, but from a profound conviction that for the best interests of the country there should be no tax on books.

What you can extort out of this tax, in any event, is very small; and it is always a tax on knowledge.

It is the boast of our institutions that they stand upon the intelligence of the people, and it is a further boast that we supply education for all at the public cost; but books are indispensable in this benefaction.

Every tax upon books, therefore, is an impediment to that education which is the pride of our country.

The Senator does plead, however, for the manufacturer of the shirt, whose shop is by the side of the bookseller; but the difference between the two cases is, as I have indicated: that, if you tax the book, you tax knowledge; if you tax the…

You cannot tax a book without taxing knowledge.

Better, therefore, have no such tax than run any such line or make any such discrimination.

A book is a book; and there should be no tax on a book.

I can imagine no tax more directly on knowledge.