How Idle Is This Prating About Natural

My Own Convictions As To Negro Slavery Are Strong. It Has Its Evils And Abuses...we Recognize The Negro As God And God's Book And God's Laws, In Nature, Tell Us To Recognize Him - Our Inferior, Fitted Expressly For Servitude...you Cannot Transform The Negro Into Anything One-tenth As Useful Or As Good As What Slavery Enables Them To Be.

Sir, It Is True That Republics Have Often Been Cradled In War, But More Often They Have Met With A Grave In That Cradle. Peace Is The Interest, The Policy, The Nature Of A Popular Government. War May Bring Benefits To A Few, But Privation And Loss Are The Lot Of The Many. An Appeal To Arms Should Be The Last Resort, And Only By National Rights Or National Honor Can It Be Justified.

God Forbid That The Day Should Ever Come When To Be True To My Constituents Is To Be Hostile To The Union.

For An Enemy So Relentless In The War For Our Subjugation, We Could Not Be Expected To Mourn; Yet, In View Of Its Political Consequences, It Could Not Be Regarded Otherwise Than As A Great Misfortune For The South.

I Tried All In My Power To Avert This War. I Saw It Coming, For Twelve Years I Worked Night And Day To Prevent It, But I Could Not. The North Was Mad And Blind; It Would Not Let Us Govern Ourselves, And So The War Came, And Now It Must Go On Unless You Acknowledge Our Right To Self Government. We Are Not Fighting For Slavery. We Are Fighting For Independence.