It Is A Duty We

Sir, It Is True That Republics Have Often Been Cradled In War, But More Often They Have Met With A Grave In That Cradle. Peace Is The Interest, The Policy, The Nature Of A Popular Government. War May Bring Benefits To A Few, But Privation And Loss Are The Lot Of The Many. An Appeal To Arms Should Be The Last Resort, And Only By National Rights Or National Honor Can It Be Justified.

Nothing Fills Me With Deeper Sadness Than To See A Southern Man Apologizing For The Defense We Made Of Our Inheritance. Our Cause Was So Just, So Sacred, That Had I Known All That Has Come To Pass, Had I Known What Was To Be Inflicted Upon Me, All That My Country Was To Suffer, All That Our Posterity Was To Endure, I Would Do It All Over Again.

If The Confederacy Fails, There Should Be Written On Its Tombstone: Died Of A Theory.

The War...must Go On Till The Last Man Of This Generation Falls In His Tracks...unless You Acknowledge Our Right To Self-government. We Are Not Fighting For Slavery. We Are Fighting For Independence,and That, Or Extermination, We Will Have.

It Is A Duty We Owe To Posterity To See That Our Children Shall Know The Virtues, And Rise Worthy Of Their Sires.