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EXTRACTS from SPEECHES and LETTERS
From Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1864
“In a great national crisis like ours, unanimity of action among those seeking a common end is very desirable–almost indispensable. And yet no approach to such unanimity is attainable unless some deference shall be paid to the will of the majority, simply because it is the will of the majority. In this case the common end is the maintenance of the Union, and among the means to secure that end, such will, through the election, is most clearly declared in favor of such constitutional amendment.”
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