I was compelled to say 'No' a thousand times where I would gladly have said 'Yes.' I was compelled to decline the advice of men honestly given for a good purpose, because in my judgment that advice would not promote the public good.
Sherman expresses the difficult decisions he had to make, prioritizing the public good over personal desires.
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But some of you may say, all this is very well, but what will you do to save the Union?
Is it not, therefore, possible to frame a bill which will punish the prominent actors in the rebellion, proclaim amnesty to the great mass of citizens in the seceding states, and separate them from their leader?
Let us, my friends, unite in electing him President of the United States.
Thus the Kansas question became a political question in the Supreme Court.
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