Quotes about Union Survival

John J. Crittendon

It is an admitted fact that our Union, to some extent, has already been dismembered; and that further dismemberment is impending and threatened. It is a fact that the country is in danger. It is our duty, if we can, to provide a remedy for this.

Crittendon, at the outbreak of the Civil War, had a Governor who wanted Kentucky to secede and join the Confederacy, but he and other leaders thwarted that and the state legislatures defied the governor and forced him to resign. 16 percent of Kentucky men held slaves and keeping Kentucky and Maryland in the Union was a very high priority for President Lincoln. See {633812}.

Peter Drucker

No society can tolerate strikes that endanger the general welfare, such as a strike that shuts down an entire industry. Nor can any government tolerate a strike aimed at its authority. But the “right to strike” is absolutely necessary to the cohesion, if not indeed to the survival, of the union; without it it cannot discharge its function.

Abraham Lincoln

It seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to cooperate with the President-elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration, as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterward.

Alexander Hamilton

Tell them from ME at MY request, for God’s sake, to cease these conversations and threatenings about the separation of the Union. It must hang together as long as it can be made to.

The Federalists had a loathing of President Thomas Jefferson as strong as that held by Conservatives regarding President William Clinton. Some leading Federalists including Timothy Pickering, a former Secretary of State, developed a plan whereby the New England states would secede if Jefferson won his second term and entice New York to join them thus creating a new empire. Hamilton was one of the most popular Federalists of the day and he put a stop to the plot. This was the last letter Hamilton was ever to write. The next morning he fought his fatal duel with Aaron Burr. Ironically, Burr had negotiated with the plotters for the New York action. He straddled the fence refusing to commit to the plan, but not clearly repudiating it either as Hamilton had done.

Carl Icahn

And I'm convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you can work with the unions because the unions want to survive. If they are confronted simply with the question: "Do you want this company to survive or do you want it to be broken up?" they will listen. It's their livelihood.

Abraham Lincoln

Continue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution, and the Union will endure forever-it being impossible to destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.

Abraham Lincoln

My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.

John Marshall

I yield ... to the conviction that our Constitution cannot last. The Union has been prolonged thus far by miracles ... they cannot continue.

Union Survival Quotes