The Past Is Dead; Let

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.

We Protest Solemnly In The Face Of Mankind, That We Desire Peace At Any Sacrifice, Save That Of Honor.

Vicksburg Is The Nail Head That Holds The South’s Two Halves Together.

My Own Convictions As To Negro Slavery Are Strong. It Has Its Evils And Abuses...we Recognize The Negro As God And God's Book And God's Laws, In Nature, Tell Us To Recognize Him - Our Inferior, Fitted Expressly For Servitude...you Cannot Transform The Negro Into Anything One-tenth As Useful Or As Good As What Slavery Enables Them To Be.

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.