William Seward: “And where is the degree of vice or immorality which shall deprive the citizen of the right to supplicate for a boon, or…”

The recital of heroic actions loses its chief value, if we cannot discover the principles in which they were born.

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

By the blessing of the Author of those rights, they have prevailed over all opposition, and form the basis of thirteen independent States.

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