Quote#Politics & Power
Whether we assert our rights by sea, or attempt their maintenance by…
Quote byHenry Clay · 1777–1852
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Speech on the Line of the Perdido, Senate (25 December 1810).
English (original)
Whether we assert our rights by sea, or attempt their maintenance by land—whithersoever we turn ourselves, this phantom incessantly pursues us. Already has it had too much influence on the councils of the nation.
— Henry Clay
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I am not, sir, in favor of cherishing the passion of conquest. I am permitted … to indulge the hope of seeing, ere long, the new United States, (if you will allow me the expression,) embracing not only the old ….
It is the thing protected, not the instrument of protection, that involves you in war.