I have always hated slavery, I think, as much as any abolitionist. I have been an Old Line Whig. I have always hated it, but I have always been quiet about it until this new era of the introduction of the Nebraska Bill began.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think and feel.
I can speak of slavery only so far as it came under my own observation - only so far as I have known and experienced it in my own person.
I think that slavery is wrong, morally, socially and politically. I desire that it should be no further spread in these United States, and I should not object if it should gradually terminate in the whole Union.
I'm a prison abolitionist because the prison system as it is set up is just not working. It's horrible.
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.
I've always hated oppression.
Slavery was not a bad day on the job. It was not your boss yelling at you. It was not hard work for little pay. This was a full system of human subjugation.
In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution is a moral & political evil in any country. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages.
Whether slavery shall go into Nebraska, or other new territories, is not a matter of exclusive concern to the people who may go there. The whole nation is interested that the best use shall be made of these territories. We want them for the homes of free white people.
I have sworn eternal opposition to slavery, and by the blessing of God, I will never go back.