JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , Fort Hill, Pickens Co., SC, 2 Jan. 1844. Version drafted 2 Jan. 1844; handwriting of ; docket and notation in handwriting of ; eleven pages; JS Collection, CHL.
damned to hell,— “where thire worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.”
Why sir, the power not delegated to the , and the states, belongs to the people, and Congress sent to do the peoples business, have all power— and shall fifteen thousand citizens groan in exile?— Oh vain men, will ye not, if can <you do> not restore them to their rights and $2,000,000 worth property, relinquish to them <(the> ) as a body, their portion of power <that belongs to them,> according to the Constitution? power has its convenience, as well as inconvenience. "The wo[r]ld was not made for Caesar alone, but Titus too.”
I will give you a parable: A certain Lord had a vineyard in a goodly land, which men labored in at their pleasure; a few meek men also, went and purchased with money from some of these chief men that labored at pleasure, a portion of land in the vineyard, at a very remote part of it, and began to improve it, and to eat and drink the fruit thereof, [p. [8]]