William Seward: “I will not stand by and see my fellow-man drowning, without stretching out a hand to help him, till he has, by his own…”

Let it be remembered, that it has ever been the pride and the boast of America, that the rights for which she contended were the rights of human nature.

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

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

Slavery therefore must be restrained, and, without violence or injustice, must be abolished.