Thus, by testimony as well as by reason, in harmony with the national pledge, we are admonished that the work must be done by the Nation.

Do not say that you have not the power, when the will only is needed.

Kindred in character are other maxims, which enjoin the duty of inclining always in favor of Liberty, to the extent of catching at anything, even a twine thread, by which to save it.

Give him the strength which comes from the fulness of citizenship, and he will then be protected.

They are like Divine promises, which, when properly understood and applied, answer every case of difficulty or distress, and, as in the Pilgrim’s Progress, “will open any lock in Doubting Castle.” Have faith.

The attempt at least must be made; and who can say that it will fail?

On its side will be Providence, the prayers of good men, Nature in her manifold attributes, and the awakened judgment of the civilized world.

The time has gone by, when the spirit of caste can continue to bear sway.

To this duty I summon you now, by every obligation of statesmanship, for the sake of the Republic and for your own sakes.

He, too, must see the image of God in all his fellow-men, and, in the discharge of his responsible duties, must set his face forever against any recognition of inequality in human rights.

As I approach it, I see the recognition of a caste and the disfranchisement of a race.

Above all should this be the case with regard to an Amendment of the Constitution.

The Senator from Maine affixes one meaning; I affix another.

The Senator sees nothing bad; I see nothing good,--or rather, all that it proposes is absorbed, merged, and lost in the evil.

For those from whom I differ I have nothing but personal kindness; but I must condemn the text they seek to inject into the Constitution.

If a measure is deemed bad, unjust, scandalous, founded in wrong principles, and calculated to produce infinite mischief, all this must be said; and it must be said with plainness, according to the nature of the exigency.

There are no terms to be spared which may be needed in this exposition, whether to reach the judgment or the feelings.

It gives me a pang; but it cannot make me change convictions springing from the very depths of conscience,--nor my course.

Only the other day I presented the petition of the editor of the Boston “Recorder,” in which he was moved to protest against it in strongest terms, inasmuch as it disfranchised a race and offended against the Declaration of Independence.

I see, too, that nearly all the members who are the most radical friends of Freedom are included in this vote, and that there is, therefore, no room in the case for questioning motives.

And no less deep and dangerous is the wound, but, on the contrary, all the deeper and more dangerous, because inflicted by hands which aimed not to harm, but to help her.

Moreover, though it is always consoling to be able to trace an error to the understanding, the error may, nevertheless, be quite as pernicious as if the heart were involved in it.

A disgraceful, if not indeed fatal, blot upon the Constitution and country will be this one.

Disgraceful is it to a government to license the gambling-house, even though it be on the condition of being paid for the license.

Disgraceful to it to license the brothel or the dram-shop, even though on such condition.