Frederick Douglass: “Pregnant words were now spoken on the side of freedom, words which went straight to the heart of the nation.”

For the moment the northern lamb was transformed into a lion, and his roar was terrible.

He was called upon not merely to administer the government, but to decide, in the face of terrible odds, the fate of the Republic.

A son of toil himself, he was linked in brotherly sympathy with the sons of toil in every loyal part of the republic.

Guilty or not guilty, to be accused was to be sure of a flogging.