In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be governed, in the fulfilment of those duties, my first resort will be to that constitution which I shall swear, to the best of my ability, to preserve, protect, and defend.
Seward emphasizes the importance of the Constitution in guiding his duties as a public servant.
Share
More from William Seward
Columbia, great Republic, thou art blest, While Empires droop, and Monarchs sink to rest.
But, were the breath which now gives utterance to my feelings the last vital air I should draw, my expiring words to you and your children should be, Independence and Union forever!
There are events, the monuments of which, surviving every other memorial of human existence, eternize the nation to whose history they belong, after all other vestiges of its glory have disappeared from the globe.
Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions, and her prayers be.
Other voices in this conversation
