I Preferred Measuring Deer Tracks To Tape

I Beseech Those Whose Piety Will Permit Them Reverently To Petition, That They Will Pray For This Union, And Ask That He Who Buildeth Up And Pulleth Down Nations Will, The Mercy Preserve And Unite Us. For A Nation Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand. I Wish, If This Union Must Be Dissolved, That Its Ruins May Be The Monument Of My Grave, And The Graves Of My Family. I Wish No Epitaph To Be Written To Tell That I Survive The Ruin Of This Glorious Union.

My God, Is It Possible That All The People Have Gone Mad? The Civil War Now Being Inaugurated Will Be As Horrible As His Satanic Majesty Could Desire.

I Declare That Civil War Is Inevitable And Is Near At Hand. When It Comes The Descendants Of The Heroes Of Lexington And Bunker Hill Will Be Found Equal In Patriotism, Courage And Heroic Endurance With The Descendants Of The Heroes Of Cowpens And Yorktown. For This Reason I Predict The Civil War Which Is Now At Hand Will Be Stubborn And Of Long Duration.

I Have Ever Been Opposed To Banks, - Opposed To Internal Improvements By The General Government, - Opposed To Distribution Of Public Lands Among The States, - Opposed To Taking The Power From The Hands Of The People, - Opposed To Special Monopolies, - Opposed To A Protective Tariff, - Opposed To A Latitudinal Construction Of The Constitution, - Opposed To Slavery Agitation And Disunion. This Is My Democracy. Point To A Single Act Of My Public Career Not In Keeping With These Principles.

In The Name Of The Constitution Of Texas, Which Has Been Trampled Upon, I Refuse To Take This Oath. I Love Texas Too Well To Bring Civil Strife And Bloodshed Upon Her.