“Lincoln the inveterate dawdler, Lincoln the Southerner, Lincoln the...”

Lincoln the inveterate dawdler, Lincoln the Southerner, Lincoln the capitulating compromiser, our adversary, and leader of the Godforsaken Republican Party - our party - Abraham Lincoln has asked for our assistance in banishing this country of the evil of slavery. Retain, even in opposition, your capacity for astonishment.

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I want the amendment to pass, so that the Constitution's first and only mention of slavery is its absolute prohibition. For this amendment, for which I have worked all my life and for which countless colored men and women have fought and died and now hundreds of thousands of soldiers... No, sir, no, it seems there's very nearly nothing I won't say. The greatest measure of the 19th century was passed by corruption, aided and abetted by the purest man in America. No one's loved as much as you, no one's ever been loved so much, by the people. You might do anything now. Don't, don't waste that power on an amendment bill that's sure of defeat.