Stephen A. Douglas - I deny the right of Congress to force a slaveholding State upon an unwillin

I deny the right of Congress to force a slaveholding State upon an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a free State upon an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a good thing upon a people who are unwilling to receive it. The great principle is the right of every community to judge and decide for itself, whether a thing is right or wrong, whether it would be good or evil for them to adopt it; and the right of free action, the right of free thought, the right of free judgment upon the question is dearer to every true American than any other under a free government.

- Stephen A. Douglas

source: Bob Blaisdell, Stephen A. Douglas (2012). “The Lincoln-Douglas Debates”, p.16, Courier Corporation

topic: War, Government, People, Free Thought, Free Government, Free State