There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.
The time will come when Winter will ask you what you were doing all Summer.
In a scheme of policy which is devised for a nation, we should not limit our views to its operation during a single year, or even for a short term of years. We should look at its operation for a considerable time, and in war as well as in peace.
Political parties serve to keep each other in check, one keenly watching the other.
It is much more important that we unite, harmonize and improve what we have than attempt to acquire more.
You're unhappy. I'm unhappy too. Have you heard of Henry Clay? He was the Great Compromiser. A good compromise is when both parties are dissatisfied, and I think that's what we have here.
Thus, Clay must suffer with posterity incapable of hearing the varied intonations of his ever-pleasing voice, or of seeing his gesticulations, his rising upon his toes, his stamp of the foot, his march down the aisles until his long fingers would almost touch the president’s desk, and his backward tread to his seat, all the while speaking; his shake of the head, his dangling hair, and his audience in the galleries rising and leaning over as if to catch every syllable.
John Wentworth’s Congressional Reminiscences. Adams, Benton, Calhoun, Clay, and Webster, An Address
