Tell The Truth And You Won't Have

And Whereas It Is The Duty Of Nations As Well As Of Men, To Own Their Dependence Upon The Overruling Power Of God ... And To Recognize The Sublime Truth, Announced In The Holy Scriptures And Proven By All History, That Those Nations Only Are Blessed Whose God Is The Lord.

I Think Slavery Is Wrong, Morally, And Politically. I Desire That It Should Be No Further Spread In These United States, And I Should Not Object If It Should Gradually Terminate In The Whole Union.

[i]f The Policy Of The Government, Upon Vital Questions Affecting, The Whole People Is To Be Irrevocably Fixed By Decisions Of The Supreme Court, The Instant They Are Made, In Ordinary Litigation Between Parties In Personal Actions, The People Will Have Ceased, To Be Their Own Rulers, Having, To That Extent, Practically Resigned Their Government, Into The Hands Of That Eminent Tribunal.

At The Beginning Of The War, And For Some Time, The Use Of Colored Troops Was Not Contemplated; And How The Change Of Purpose Was Wrought, I Will Not Now Take Time To Explain. Upon A Clear Conviction Of Duty I Resolved To Turn That Element Of Strength To Account; And I Am Responsible For It To The American People, To The Christian World, To History, And On My Final Account To God.

If It Were Not For My Firm Belief In An Overruling Providence, It Would Be Difficult For Me, In The Midst Of Such Complications Of Affairs, To Keep My Reason On Its Seat. But I Am Confident That The Almighty Has His Plans, And Will Work Them Out; And, Whether We See It Or Not, They Will Be The Best For Us.