He knew the whole history of his country from the time of her independence, partly from the lips of those who had shaped it, partly because of the large share he had in it himself.

If he had not lived, the history of the country would have been different in some very important particulars; and it is not unlikely that his death changed the result in some matters of great pith and moment, which are to affect profoundly…

The longer I live, the more carefully I study the former times or observe my own time, the more I am impressed with the sensitiveness of every people, however great or however free, to an individual touch, to the influence of a personal…

There is no such thing as a blind fate; no such thing as an overwhelming and pitiless destiny.

The Providence that governs this world leaves nations as He leaves men, to work out their own destiny, their own fate, in freedom, as they obey or disobey His will.

Man is his own star; and the soul that can Render an honest and a perfect man Commands all life, all influence, all fate; Nothing to him falls early or too late.

Our acts our angels are, or good or ill; Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.

But he has left many a personal monument in our legislation, in the glory of which no others can rightfully claim to rival him.

To him is due the great tariff, that of 1861, which will always pass by his name, of which every protective tariff since has been but a modification and adjustment to conditions somewhat changed, conditions which in general, so far as they…

To him is due the first antipolygamy bill, which inaugurated the policy under which, as we hope and believe, that great blot on our National life has been forever expunged.

He conceived and accomplished the idea of consecrating the beautiful chamber of the old House of Representatives as a Memorial Hall where should stand forever the statues of the great men of the States.

Above all, the beautiful National Library building, unequalled among buildings of its class in the world, was in a large measure the result of his persistent effort and powerful influence, and stands as an enduring monument to his fame.

There can be no more beautiful and enviable memorial to any man than a portrait upon the walls of a great college in the gallery where the figures and faces of its benefactors are collected.

Morrill deserves this expression of honor and gratitude at the hands of at least one great institution of learning in every American State.

To his wise foresight is due the ample endowment of Agricultural or Technical colleges in every State in the Union.

His intellect and soul, his conceptions of statesmanship and of duty expanded as the country grew and as the demands upon him increased.

He was in every respect as competent to legislate for fifty States as for thirteen.

He would have been as competent to legislate for an entire continent so long as that legislation were to be governed, restrained, inspired by the principles in which our Union is founded and the maxims of the men who builded it.

In whatever assembly he was found he represented the solid sense of the meeting.

On any question involving righteousness or freedom you would as soon have had doubt of George Washington's position as of his.

He had no duplicity, no indirection, no diplomacy.

His armor was his honest thought And simple truth his utmost skill.

But with all his friendliness and kindliness, with all his great hold upon the love and respect of the people, with all his large circle of friends, with all his delight in companionship and agreeable converse, he dared to be alone.

He was many times called upon to espouse unpopular causes and unpopular doctrines.

When Freedom, Righteousness and Justice were on his side he considered himself in the majority.