Count up all the cases of rescue of negroes in the north, and you can find in your newspapers more cases of unlawful lynching and murder of white men in the south.

These cases have now become so frequent and atrocious, as to demand the attention of the general government.

The same article of the constitution that secures the recapture of fugitives from service and justice, also secures the rights of citizens of Pennsylvania and Ohio to all the immunities and privileges of citizens of the several states.

No law has been passed by Congress to secure this constitutional right.

Plotters for disunion avail themselves of the weakness of the executive to precipitate revolution.

She is still in the Union, and neither the President nor Congress has the power to consent to her withdrawal.

The defense of the property of the United States and the collection of the revenues need not cause the shedding of blood, unless she commences a contest of physical force.

This great government might well treat with indulgence paper secession, or the resolves of her convention and legislature, without invoking physical force to enforce the laws among her citizens.

Without disrespect to South Carolina, it would be easy to show that Shay's rebellion and the whisky insurrection involved the government in greater danger than the solitary secession of South Carolina.

To peacefully accomplish such results we must change the nature of man.

I speak but the logic of facts, which we should not conceal from each other.

It is either hostilities between the government and the seceding states; or, if separation is yielded peaceably, it is a war of factions--a rivalry of insignificant communities, hating each other, and contemned by the civilized world.

The same qualities that have enabled a single generation of men to develop the resources of a continent, would enable us to destroy more rapidly than we have constructed.

It is idle for individuals of either section to suppose themselves superior in military power.

The result of the contest would not depend upon the first blow of the first year, but blood shed in civil war will yield its baleful fruit for generations.

I know no way but to cling to the government framed by our fathers, to administer it in a spirit of kindness, but in all cases, without partiality, to enforce the laws.

No state can release us from the duty of obeying the laws.

The ordinance or act of a state is no defense for treason, nor does it lessen the moral guilt of that crime.

Let us cling to each other in the hope that our differences will pass away, as they often have in times past.

For the sake of peace, for the love of civil liberty, for the honor of our name, our race, our religion, let us preserve the Union, loving it better as the clouds grow darker.

The answer to this question is a most painful confession of feebleness, vacillation and dishonor.

After much serious reflection, I have arrived at the conclusion that no such power has been delegated to Congress nor to any other department of the federal government.

It is manifest, upon an inspection of the constitution, that this is not among the specific and enumerated powers granted to Congress; and it is equally apparent that its exercise is not 'necessary and proper for carrying into execution'…

Without descending to particulars, it may be safely asserted that the power to make war against a state is at variance with the whole spirit and intent of the constitution. . . .

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