“If there is any one principle dearer and more sacred than all others in free governments, it is that which asserts the exclusive right of a free people to form and adopt their own fundamental law, and to manage and regulate their own internal affairs and domestic institutions.”

— Stephen A. Douglas

Speech in Chicago, Illinois http://www.bartleby.com/251/1002.html (9 July 1858)
1850s

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Stephen A. Douglas 10

American politician 1813–1861

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“If there is any one principle dearer and more sacred than all others in free governments, it is that which asserts the exclusive right of a free people to form and adopt their own fundamental law, and to manage and regulate their own internal affairs and domestic institutions.”

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Stephen A. Douglas 10

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