John Sherman: “When all has been said that one can say, there is still something wanting to convey an adequate expression of gratitude…”

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.

Though my grateful thanks are due to them and have been often expressed, yet I have felt, as they do, that my duty was to the whole country.

It was settled by this war that we have a country limited in its powers by the constitution of the United States fairly construed.

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.