It Is A Duty We Owe To

Among Our Neighbors Of Central And Southern America, We See The Caucasian Mingled With The Indian And The African. They Have The Forms Of Free Government, Because They Have Copied Them. To Its Benefits They Have Not Attained, Because That Standard Of Civilization Is Above Their Race. Revolution Succeeds Revolution, And The Country Mourns That Some Petty Chief May Triumph, And Through A Sixty Days' Government Ape The Rulers Of The Earth.

Lay Aside All Rancor, All Bitter Sectional Feeling, And To Make Your Places In The Ranks Of Those Who Will Bring About A Consummation Devoutly To Be Wished—a Reunited Country.

If You Will Not Have It Thus: If In The Pride Of Power, If In Contempt Of Reason And Reliance Upon Force, You Say We Shall Not Go, But Shall Remain As Subjects To You, Then, Gentlemen Of The North, A War Is To Be Inaugurated The Like Of Which Men Have Not Seen.

How Idle Is This Prating About Natural Rights As Though Still Containing All That Had Been Forfeited.

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.