William Seward: “Slavery therefore must be restrained, and, without violence or injustice, must be abolished.”

It depends not on the zeal and firmness only of the reformers, but on their wisdom and moderation also.

Stoicism, that had no charity for error, never converted any human society to virtue; Christianity, that remembers the true nature of man, has encompassed a large portion of the globe.

How long emancipation may be delayed, is among the things concealed from our knowledge, but not so the certain result.

For the rest, the work of emancipation abides the action, whether it be slow or fast, of the moral sense of the American people.