If the civil authorities refuse to protect me, I must look to God, and if I die, I have determined to make my grave in Alton.

I have appealed to the constitution and laws of my country; if they fail to protect me, I appeal to God, and with Him I cheerfully rest my cause. I can die at my post, but I cannot desert it.

Emancipation, to be of any value to the slave, must be the free, voluntary act of the master, performed from a conviction of its propriety.

If I know my own heart, I do now feel the necessity of resigning myself into the hands of my God, to mould and guide me at His will; tho I dare not say that I am, at present, willing to do it.

I have sworn eternal opposition to slavery, and by the blessing of God, I will never go back.

I have concluded, after consultation with my friends and earnestly seeking counsel of God, to remain at Alton, and here to insist on protection in the exercise of my rights.