I trust that you will do everything possible to arouse hope and encouragement in the colored people. Let them know that their friends will stand by them. All white persons who have any regard for the Declaration of Independence ought to unite in favor of its principles, and insist that they shall be made the foundation of the new order of things. Courage! the cause cannot fail.
Believe me, dear Sir, faithfully yours,
Charles Sumner.
PROMISES OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, AND ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Eulogy on Abraham Lincoln, before the Municipal Authorities of the City of Boston, June 1, 1865.
Think nothing of me, take no thought for the political fate of any man whomsoever, but come back to the truths that are in the Declaration of Independence. You may do anything with me you choose, if you will but heed these sacred principles. You may not only defeat me for the Senate, but you may take me and put me to death.—Abraham Lincoln: Crosby’s Life of Lincoln, p. 33.