He voted the Taylor electoral ticket, but indorsed a prayer on the back of his ballot, saying that he was painfully uncertain as to the course of duty, and imploring that his vote might be sanctified for the good of the country.
Mann recounts a voter's prayerful uncertainty about his electoral choice, highlighting the moral weight of voting.
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The liberty of voting includes all other liberties.
The man of independent circumstances has this liberty; and no man’s circumstances, not even the poorest and the humblest, should be so dependent as to take it away.
Better be debarred from the privilege of voting at all, than to be mocked with the form, while cheated of the substance.
A southern slave stands higher, politically, than a northern laborer, if the latter must vote as his employer dictates.
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