Benjamin Butler (politician) Quotes

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Will you suffer your soldier, captured in fighting your battles, to be in confinement for months rather than release him by giving for him that which you call a piece of property, and which we are willing to accept as a man? You certainly appear to place less value upon your soldier than you do upon your negro. I assure you, much as we of the North are accused of loving property, our citizens would have no difficulty in yielding up any piece of property they have in exchange for one of their brothers or sons languishing in your prisons.

Benjamin Butler

I have forborne, sir, in this discussion, to argue the question upon any other or different grounds of right than those adopted by your authorities, in claiming the negroes as property, because I understand that your fabric of opposition to the Government of the United States has the right of property in man as its corner-stone.

Benjamin Butler

The true touchstone of civil liberty is not that all men are equal but that every man has the right to be the equal of every other man – if he can.

Benjamin Butler

Benjamin Butler

Benjamin Butler

Born: November 5, 1818

Died: January 11, 1893 (aged 74)

Bio: Benjamin Franklin Butler, known pejoratively as "Beast" Butler by some contemporaries, was an American lawyer, politician, soldier and businessman from Massachusetts.

Known for:

How to Get Rich (1888)

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