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As I would not be a slave so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

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Democracy is the government of the people by the people for the people.

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I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.

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Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

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Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to...more

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I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the re...more

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The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

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The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, ...more

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I fear you do not fully comprehend the danger of abridging the liberties of the people. Nothing but the very sternest necessity can ever justify it. A...more

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My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing ...more

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We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Con...more

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Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that a...more

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If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view ju...more

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Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God cannot retain it.

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The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both *may* be, and one *must* be, wrong. God ...more