I Never Thought I Would Be Impeached.

I Have Been Almost Overwhelmed By The Announcement Of The Sad Event [lincoln's Assassination] Which Has So Recently Occurred. I Feel Incompetent To Perform Duties So Important And Responsible As Those Which Have Been So Unexpectedly Thrown Upon Me.

I Tell Our Sisters In The South That So Far As Tennessee Is Concerned She Will Not Be Dragged Into A Southern Or Any Other Confederacy Until She Has Had Time To Consider; And Then She Will Go When She Believes It To Be Her Interest, And Not Before.

I Have Performed My Duty To My God, My Country, And My Family. I Have Nothing To Fear In Approaching Death. To Me It Is The Mere Shadow Of God's Protecting Wing . . . Here I Will Rest In Quiet And Peace Beyond The Reach Of Calumny's Poisoned Shaft, The Influence Of Envy And Jealous Enemies, Where Treason And Traitors Or State Backsliders And Hypocrites In Church Can Have No Peace.

Slavery Exists. It Is Black In The South, And White In The North.

The Homestead Policy Was Established Only After Long And Earnest Resistance; Experience Proves Its Wisdom. The Lands In The Hands Of Industrious Settlers, Whose Labor Creates Wealth And Contributes To The Public Resources, Are Worth More To The United States Than If They Had Been Reserved As A Solitude For Future Purchasers.