Robert J. Rayback > Quotes

“The American scene required harmonization of its discordant groups, and responsibility for the task belonged to the practitioners of politics.”
― Robert J. Rayback, Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President

“The man who can look upon a crisis without being willing to offer himself upon the altar of his country is not fit for public trust.” The”
― Robert J. Rayback, Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President

“His scheme called for the Antimasonic conventions to endorse National Republican tickets made acceptable by including Antimasons. But so persuasively had Weed and his agents presented their charges against Masons that a strong and strange fanaticism gripped large numbers of the party. When the time came to endorse National Republican candidates, the fanatics among the Antimasons revolted. They accepted Adams but demanded and got an independent state ticket. Weed’s scheme collapsed.”
― Robert J. Rayback, Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President

“May God save the country; for it is evident the people will not...”[381]”
― Robert J. Rayback, Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President

“These businessmen, however, desired more than the simple elimination of imprisonment for defaulting debtors. They wanted a bankruptcy law that would abolish the debt itself, as well as imprisonment. With such a law, old misjudgments would not plague their future; indeed, it might unleash creative, if risky, enterprise.[63]”
― Robert J. Rayback, Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President

“Each eager contestant strove to embarrass the other. Webster opposed a special session of Congress as unnecessary, and Clay sought to influence the cabinet appointments.”
― Robert J. Rayback, Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President

“sectional peace had made it possible for the President and his lady to join the elite and “roll in the most stylish equipage.”
― Robert J. Rayback, Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President

“God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil, for which we are not responsible, and we must endure it, and give it such protection as is guaranteed by the constitution, till we can get rid of it without destroying the last hope of free government in the world,”[629]”
― Robert J. Rayback, Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President