The Past Is Dead; Let It Bury

Nothing Fills Me With Deeper Sadness Than To See A Southern Man Apologizing For The Defense We Made Of Our Inheritance. Our Cause Was So Just, So Sacred, That Had I Known All That Has Come To Pass, Had I Known What Was To Be Inflicted Upon Me, All That My Country Was To Suffer, All That Our Posterity Was To Endure, I Would Do It All Over Again.

Slavery Existed Before The Formation Of This Union. It Derived From The Constitution That Recognition Which It Would Not Have Enjoyed Without The Confederation. If The States Had Not United Together, There Would Have Been No Obligation On Adjoining States To Regard Any Species Of Property Unknown To Themselves.

Your Little Army, Derided For Its Want Of Arms, Derided For Its Lack Of All The Essential Material Of War, Has Met The Grand Army Of The Enemy, Routed It At Every Point, And Now It Flies, Inglorious In Retreat Before Our Victorious Columns. We Have Taught Them A Lesson In Their Invasion Of The Sacred Soil Of Virginia.

Secession Belongs To A Different Class Of Remedies. It Is To Be Justified Upon The Basis That The States Are Sovereign. There Was A Time When None Denied It. I Hope The Time May Come Again, When A Better Comprehension Of The Theory Of Our Government, And The Inalienable Rights Of The People Of The States, Will Prevent Any One From Denying That Each State Is A Sovereign, And Thus May Reclaim The Grants Which It Has Made To Any Agent Whomsoever.

Truth Crushed To Earth Is Truth Still And Like A Seed Will Rise Again.