Colonel [John Charles] Fremont. Not a good picture, but will do to indicate my politics this year. For free States and against new... slave States.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I shall not be surprised if Colonel [John Charles] Fremont receives less than one hundred electoral votes. But, after all, the goo...d cause has made a great progress. Antislavery sentiment has been created and the people have been educated to a large extent. I did hope that this election would put an end to angry discussion upon this exciting topic by placing the general Government in the right position in regard to it and thereby securing to antislavery effort a foothold among those who have the evil in their midst. But further work is to be done and my sense of duty determines me to keep on in the path I have chosen ... to do what I can ... to aid in forming a public opinion on this subject which will "mitigate and finally eradicate the evil."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I have heard arguments ... in favor of pardoning D. M. Bennett, convicted of sending obscene matter through the mails, viz., a pam...phlet [by Ezra Hervey Heywood] of a polemical character in favor of free love. While I am satisfied that Bennett ought not to have been convicted, I am not satisfied that I ought to undertake to correct the mistakes of the courts--constantly persisted in--by the exercise of the pardoning power.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There are good points about all such wars. People forget self. The virtues of magnanimity, courage, patriotism, etc., etc., are ca...lled into life. People are more generous, more sympathetic, better, than when engaged in the more selfish pursuits of peace.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Not being a K.N. [Know-Nothing] I am left as a sort of waif on the political sea with symptoms of a mild sort towards Black Republ...icanism.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It seems to me that the most important thing in Texas, as everywhere else, is education for all. I, of course, don't believe in fo...rcing whites and blacks together. But both classes should be fully provided for. I recognize fully the evil of rule by ignorance. I see enough of it under my own eyes. You are not so much worse off in this respect than New York, Chicago, and other cities having a large immigrant population. But the remedy is not, I am sure, to be found in the abandonment of the American principle that all must share in government. The whites of the South must do as we do, forget to drive and learn to lead the ignorant masses around them.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The ex-Presidential situation has its advantages, but with them are certain drawbacks. The correspondence is large. The meritoriou...s demands on one are large. More independent out than in place, but still something of the bondage of the place that was willingly left. On the whole, however, I find many reasons to be content.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Nobody ever left the Presidency with less regret, less disappointment, fewer heartburnings, or more general content with the resul...t of his term (in his own heart, I mean), than I do. Full of difficulty and trouble at first, I now find myself on smooth waters and under bright skies.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I now have next to no hope of a restoration of the old Union.... If it is the settled and final judgment of any slave State that s...he cannot live in the Union, I should not think it wise or desirable to retain her by force, even if it could be done. But am I, therefore, to oppose the war? If it were a war of conquest merely, certainly I should oppose it.... But the war is forced on us. We cannot escape it. While ... perhaps in all the cotton-growing States, a deciding and controlling public judgment has deliberately declared against remaining in the Union, it is quite certain that in several States rebellious citizens are bent on forcing out of the Union States whose people are not in favor of secession.... If force had been employed to meet force, I believe several States now out of the Union would have remained in it.... The war ... for the defence of the capital, for the maintenance of the authority of the Government and the rights of the United States, I think is necessary, wise, and just.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
My wish for the American woman is that she may always be an elevating influence--man's inspiration. Let him go forth to duty while... she weaves the spell which makes home a paradise to which he may return, ever welcome, whether he is victor or vanquished.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »