John Sherman: “Besides the difficulty of collecting it, there is the palpable objection that it is an unequal, and therefore an unjust…”

The events of the future are beyond the vision of mankind, but I hope our people will be content with internal growth, and avoid the complications of foreign acquisitions.

Our family of states is already large enough to create embarrassment in the Senate, and a republic should not hold dependent provinces or possessions.

During forty years of public life, though many able men have aspired to the office I hold, the people of Ohio, through their general assembly, have preferred me to represent them.

If my life is prolonged I will do all I can to add to the strength and prosperity of the United States, but nothing to extend its limits or to add new dangers by acquisition of foreign territory.