William Seward: “We cannot expect, with the agency of free and universal suffrage, to be always governed by the wise and the good.”

Columbia, great Republic, thou art blest, While Empires droop, and Monarchs sink to rest.

You have maintained through times of trial and danger the inheritance of freedom, of union, of independence bequeathed you by your forefathers.

The virtues and powers to which men may be trained, by early education and constant discipline, are truly sublime and astonishing.

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!