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You say this is horrid. I know it is horrid. I know it is horrid to hold men in slavery. I know it is horrid to doom four million human beings to condition of chattels.

— Owen Lovejoy Speech to the U.S. House of Representatives (1860)

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Slavery

More quotes by Owen Lovejoy

I love the Constitution. It is enshrined in my heart. I love it better than any dozen Democrats in the land do tonight.

Speech (1860)

The equality of the human race is the pivot upon which our government rests and resolves.

Speech (1862)

The doors will be forever barred and bolted against those miserable Democrats who scoff the rights of man.

Speech (1860)

I always defended it and always will, whether it be against the Democrats who pervert it, or the dis-unionists who trample on it.

Speech to the U.S. House of Representatives (1860)

The estimation of the Democratic Party is iniquity!

Speech (1860)

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The Autocrat of all the Russias will resign his crown, and proclaim his subjects free republicans sooner than will our American masters voluntarily give up their slaves.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Owen Lovejoy (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.