Famous Quotes | Nobody in this army thinks of...
Nobody in this army thinks of giving up to Rebels their fugitive slaves. Union men might perhaps be differently dealt with—probably would be.... The man who repudiates all obligations under the Constitution and laws of the United States is to be treated as having forfeited those rights which depend solely on the laws and the Constitution. I don’t want to see Congress meddling with the slavery question. Time and the progress of events are solving all the questions arising out of slavery in a way consistent with eternal principles of justice. Slavery is getting death blows. As an “institution” it perishes in this war. It will take years to get rid of its debris, but the “sacred” is gone.
- Rutherford Birchard Hayes
Attribution: Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893), U.S. president. Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes: Nineteenth President of the United States, vol. II, pp. 173-174, ed. Charles Richard Williams, The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 5 vols. (1922-1926), Diary (January 2, 1862).
Categories: Civil War, President, Slavery
