The power of the ballot we need in sheer defense, else what shall save us from a second slavery?
Sentiment: POSITIVE
If the states had to vote on slavery, we would have lost the vote.
We need an amendment that gives us the right to vote protected by the federal government and the Constitution.
If the black vote does not come out in big numbers in the age of Ferguson and voter ID, it will empower our adversaries and enhance our marginalization.
God knows I detest slavery but it is an existing evil, and we must endure it and give it such protection as is guaranteed by the Constitution.
Carry out the republican principle of universal suffrage, or strike it from your banners and substitute 'Freedom and Power to one half of society, and Submission and Slavery to the other.'
All we have is our vote. But it's powerful.
The most powerful thing we own is our vote.
If slavery, limited as it yet is, now threatens to subvert the Constitution, how can we as wise and prudent statesmen, enlarge its boundaries and increase its influence, and thus increase already impending dangers?
I think we must get rid of slavery, or we must get rid of freedom.
We can constitutionally extirpate slavery at this time.