06/21/1860
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu...
"I deem it to be both inexpedient and unconstitutional."
"Surely the present is the most unpropitious moment which could have been selected for the passage of this bill."
"I can not so read the words 'dispose of' as to make them embrace the idea of 'giving away.'"
"The representatives of the States and of the people, feeling a more immediate interest in obtaining money to lighten the burdens of their constituents than for the promotion of the more distant object..."