I Would Much Rather Be

The Origin Of The Political Relations Between The United States And France Is Coeval With The First Years Of Our Independence. The Memory Of It Is Interwoven With That Of Our Arduous Struggle For National Existence. Weakened As It Has Occasionally Been Since That Time, It Can By Us Never Be Forgotten, And We Should Hail With Exultation The Moment Which Should Indicate A Recollection Equally Friendly In Spirit On The Part Of France.

The Inconsistency Of The Institution Of Domestic Slavery With The Principles Of The Declaration Of Independence Was Seen And Lamented . . . No Insincerity Or Hypocrisy Can Be Fairly Laid To Their Charge. Never From Their Lips Was Heard One Syllable Of Attempt To Justify The Institution Of Slavery. They Universally Considered It As A Reproach Fastened Upon Them By The Unnatural Step-mother Country And They Saw That Before The Principles Of The Declaration Of Independence Slavery, In Common With Every Other Mode Of Oppression, Was Destined Sooner Or Later To Be Banished From The Earth.

The Art Of Making Love, Muffled Up In Furs, In The Open Air, With The Thermometer At Zero, Is A Yankee Invention.

This Mode Of Electioneering Suited Neither My Taste Nor My Principles. I Thought It Equally Unsuitable To My Personal Character And To The Station In Which I Am Placed.

Our Constitution Rests On The Good Sense And The Respect Of The American People.