Free labor has the inspiration of hope; pure slavery has no hope.

Whether we will or not, the question of Slavery is THE question, the all absorbing topic of the day.

Prevent ... our friends from demoralizing themselves, and our cause, by entertaining propositions for compromise of any sort, on 'slavery extention.' ... On that point hold firm, as with a chain of steel.

Many poor whites, however, were the derivative victims of slavery. As long as labor was cheapened by the involuntary servitude of the black man, the freedom of white labor, especially in the South, was little more than a myth.

I think that if anything can be proved by natural theology, it is that slavery is morally wrong.

I confess myself as belonging to that class in the country who contemplate slavery as a moral, social and political evil