Political Quotes

John Sherman

The Public Record

John Sherman was an American politician from Ohio who served in federal office throughout the Civil War and into the late nineteenth century. A member of the Republican Party, he served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. He also served as Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of State. Sherman sought the Republican presidential nomination three times, coming closest in 1888, but was never chosen by the party. Between 1861 and 1897, John Sherman served in the U.S. Senate for nearly 32 years and holds the record for longest serving senator from the state of Ohio.

Owing to the division of the Democratic party, the Republican party is the only one that can hope to succeed by a direct vote of the people.

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The three millions of people of Pennsylvania will have only the same political power as the one hundred thousand people of Delaware.

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I recently read this speech, and, in view of the events that followed I can say that every prophecy made, and every argument stated, has been verified and sustained by the march of events.

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Buchanan's administration may seem to be partisan and unjust, but the general opinion now is that his fault was feebleness of will, not intentional wrong.

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Buchanan was surrounded by men who had already made up their minds to destroy the Union, one of whom had already committed acts of treachery in the distribution of arms and military supplies, and all of whom avowed the legality and…

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Is this the party which you would combine and conspire against, and to defeat which you would unite hostile elements?

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Is it to defeat these ideas that you would risk scenes of violence in the House, or the subversion of the constitution by the Senate of the United States?

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Is it to defeat this noble policy that you would longer trust a broken-down, corrupt and demoralized administration?

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Is it for this that you would continue in power a party that, by a long enjoyment of the patronage of the government, has become reckless and corrupt?

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And now, since the victory is won, let us not lose the fruits of it.

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Fidelity to principle is demanded by the highest patriotism.

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The question is not whether this or that policy should prevail; but whether we shall allow the government to be broken into fragments, by disappointed partisans, condemned by four-fifths of the people.

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Such would be the voice of the whole country, if the government was not now administered by those who not only threaten treason, but actually commit it, by turning the powers of the government against itself.

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They kill the government they have sworn to maintain and defend, because the people, whose agents they are, have condemned them.

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We see other high officers receiving pay for services to the government, and yet, at the same moment, plotting its destruction.

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Stranger still, we see the President of the United States acknowledging his duty to execute the laws, but refusing to execute them.

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He admits that the constitution is the supreme law; that neither a state nor the citizens of a state can disregard it; and yet, armed as he is with all the executive power, he refuses even to protect the property of the United States…

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He has transferred to southern states more than one hundred thousand arms, of the newest pattern and most effective calibre, to be turned against the government.

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The American people are now trembling with apprehension lest the President allow our officers and soldiers to be slaughtered at their posts, for want of the aid which he has refused, or, what is far more disgraceful, shall order the flag…

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Treason sits in the councils, and timidity controls the executive power.

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He admits that the states have surrendered the power to make treaties, coin money, and regulate commerce, and yet we will probably have the novel and ridiculous farce of a negotiation between the President and a state, for the surrender of…

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The constitution provided against every probable vacancy in the office of President, but did not provide for utter imbecility.

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The people, alarmed, excited, yet true to the Union and the constitution, are watching with eager fear, lest the noble government, baptized in the blood of the Revolution, shall be broken into fragments, before the President elect shall…

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What pretext is given for this alarming condition of affairs?-- for every treasonable act has its pretext.

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I worked hard that winter, for hard work, I thought, was the way to fortune.

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Politicians like John Sherman