I Think I Stand Where That Man

Reputation Is Like Fine China: Once Broken It's Very Hard To Repair.

With The Fearful Strain That Is On Me Night And Day, If I Did Not Laugh I Should Die.

In Regards To This Great Book [the Bible], I Have But To Say It Is The Best Gift God Has Given To Man. All The Good The Savior Gave To The World Was Communicated Through This Book. But For It We Could Not Know Right From Wrong. All Things Most Desirable For Man's Welfare, Here And Hereafter, Are Found Portrayed In It.

I Do Not Wish To Be Misunderstood Upon This Subject Of Slavery In This Country. I Suppose It May Long Exist, And Perhaps The Best Way For It To Come To An End Peaceably Is For It To Exist For A Length Of Time. But I Say That The Spread And Strengthening And Perpetuation Of It Is An Entirely Different Proposition. There We Should In Every Way Resist It As A Wrong, Treating It As A Wrong, With The Fixed Idea That It Must And Will Come To An End.

Our Adversaries [ The Confederate States Of America ] Have Adopted Some Declarations Of Independence In Which, Unlike The Good Old One Penned By Jefferson, They Omit The Words "all Men Are Created Equal." Why? They Have Adopted A Temporary National Constitution, In The Preamble Of Which, Unlike Our Good Old One, Signed By Washington, They Omit "we, The People," And Substitute "we, The Deputies Of The Sovereign And Independent States." Why? Why This Deliberate Pressing Out Of View, The Rights Of Men, And The Authority Of The People?