I Am Aware That In Presenting Myself

The Benefits Of Education And Of Useful Knowledge, Generally Diffused Through A Community, Are Essential To The Preservation Of A Free Government.

A Victim Of The Use Of Water As A Beverage.

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.

I Would Lay Down My Life To Defend Any One Of The States From Aggression, Which Endangered Peace Or Threatened Its Institutions. I Could Do More For The Union, But I Wish To Do More; For The Destruction Of The Union Would Be The Destruction Of All The States. A Stab In The Heart Is Worse Then A Cut In A Limb, For This May Be Healed.