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Mr. Speaker, if it pleases the gentlemen of the House of Representatives, I submit to the floor the [b]Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution[/b], abolishing the practice of slavery in the United States of America and any and all territories she owns. This amendment, having been reported favorably in the House Judiciary Committee, is now free for open debate on the House floor. I will yield the floor to the clerk for a full reading of the amendment.

-- Representative James Ashley on the House floor

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[b]House Debates Thirteenth Amendment for Twelfth Straight Day[/b]
[i]Chicago Times[/i] Headline

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We must not pass this bill, for it is not our place to decide a state's rights issue! This amendment is an affront to the Constitution, as well as an affront to the people who depend on chattel slavery for their way of life. And worse, this amendment will only make the Rebels fight that much harder to stay free of the United States. If it comes down to it, I will pick the life of one white man over the comfort of three million negroes! This measure starts with abolishing slavery, then what? If we let the Radical Republicans have their way, then the negroes will be able to vote, be able to hold land. What then? A negro congressman? A negro judge? A negro president?! This bill is the end of negro slavery, as well as the beginning of the white race's enslavement to those that are inferior to us. It is the end of the United States and the start of a new United States of Nergoes, and it cannot stand!

-- Representative Fernando Wood on the House Floor

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Mr. Wood speaks of equality, he chastises me and my fellow Republicans because we believe in equality, and the fact that all men are created equal. How can I hold that all men are created equal, when here before me stands, stinking, the moral carcass of the gentleman from New York, proof that some men are inferior, endowed by their Maker with dim wits, impermeable to reason, with cold, pallid slime in their veins instead of hot red blood! You are more reptile than man, Fernando! So low and flat, that the foot of man is incapable of crushing you!

-- Representative Thaddeus Stevens in reply to Representative Wood

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Mister President,

We cannot sacrifice peace for abolition. There has been so much blood letting in this conflict, and with spring fast upon us, the roads will thicken and we will witness another bloody spring and summer down South. Grant and Sherman are close to Charleston, but what is the cost if we can have peace now? You care about reelection, a negotiated Confederate peace gives you that chance. If not you, then the Democrats will negotiate with Davis. You know of my Southern roots and ties down South. You have heeded my advice before, heed it now and let me go to Charleston to at least get peace talks started.

-- Francis Preston Blair

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We must listen to reason, not tyranny. The policies of Abraham Lincoln have shown us that he is nothing but a would-be Caesar who seeks to take our Southern brothers right's away by force. This cannot stand, and it is for this reason that I, George Brinton McClellan accept the [b]Democratic Nomination for the Office of Presidency of the United States[/b] If elected, I will seek a ceasefire in this civil war, and negotiate with the Confederacy on readmission into the Union on their own terms. We cannot, and will not let one man control the fate of this country.

-- George B. McClellan

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[b]Congress Deadlocked in Thirteenth Amendment Debate[/b]
-- [i]Baltimore Sun[/i] Headline

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I cannot accomplish a goddamn thing of any human meaning or worth until we cure ourselves of slavery and end this pestilential war. Whether any of you or anyone else knows it, I know I need this! This country is violently ill and this amendment is that cure! We've stepped out upon the world stage now and the fate of human dignity is in our hands. Blood's been spilled to afford us this moment! Now! Now! Now! And you grouse so and heckle and dodge about like pettifogging Tammany Hall hucksters! See what is before you! See the here and now! That's the hardest thing, the only thing that counts! Abolishing slavery by constitutional provision settles the fate for all coming time. Not only of the millions now in bondage, but of unborn millions to come. Two votes stand in its way. These votes must be procured. I am the President of the United States of America, clothed in immense power! You will procure me these votes.

-- Abraham Lincoln to his Cabinet