I deem it established, then, that the Constitution does not recognize property in man, but leaves that question, as between the states, to the law of nature and of nations. William H. Seward Read Quote
To reduce this claim of slavery to an absurdity, it is only necessary to add that there are only two states in which slaves are a majority, and not one in which the slaveholders are not a very disproportionate minority. William H. Seward Read Quote
There is not only no free state which would now establish it, but there is no slave state, which, if it had had the free alternative as we now have, would have founded slavery. William H. Seward Read Quote
The United States are a political state, or organized society, whose end is government, for the security, welfare, and happiness of all who live under its protection. William H. Seward Read Quote
The right to have a slave implies the right in some one to make the slave; that right must be equal and mutual, and this would resolve society into a state of perpetual war. William H. Seward Read Quote
Sir, there is no Christian nation, thus free to choose as we are, which would establish slavery. William H. Seward Read Quote
Simultaneously with the establishment of the Constitution, Virginia ceded to the United States her domain, which then extended to the Mississippi, and was even claimed to extend to the Pacific Ocean. William H. Seward Read Quote
It is the maintenance of slavery by law in a state, not parallels of latitude, that makes its a southern state; and the absence of this, that makes it a northern state. William H. Seward Read Quote
I submit, on the other hand, most respectfully, that the Constitution not merely does not affirm that principle, but, on the contrary, altogether excludes it. William H. Seward Read Quote
