I Shall Always Think Of Myself First

I Will Do What I Think Is Right And When I Discover That It Is Wrong, I Will Change It.

All My Life I Have Tried To Pluck A Thistle And Plant A Flower Wherever The Flower Would Grow In Thought And Mind.

I Cannot Speak So Confidently About The Fighting Qualities Of The Eastern Men, Or What Are Called Yankees - Not Knowing Myself Particularly To Whom The Appellation Belongs - But This I Do Know - If The Southerners Think That Man For Man They Are Better Than Our Illinois Men, Or Western Men Generally, They Will Discover Themselves In A Grievous Mistake.

Now, I Confess Myself As Belonging To That Class In The Country Who Contemplate Slavery As A Moral, Social And Political Evil, Having Due Regard For Its Actual Existence Amongst Us And The Difficulties Of Getting Rid Of It In Any Satisfactory Way, And To All The Constitutional Obligations Which Have Been Thrown About It; But, Nevertheless, Desire A Policy That Looks To The Prevention Of It As A Wrong, And Looks Hopefully To The Time When As A Wrong It May Come To An End.

Our Popular Government Has Often Been Called An Experiment. Two Points In It Our People Have Already Settled, The Successful Establishing And The Successful Administering Of It. One Still Remains, Its Successful Maintenance Against A Formidable Internal Attempt To Overthrow It.