| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered
by national or State authority? The Constitution does not expressly say.
May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not
expressly say. MUST Congress protect slavery in the Territories?
The Constitution does not expressly say.
From questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies,
and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority
will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the government must cease.
There is no other alternative; for continuing the government is
acquiescence on one side or the other.
If a minority in such case will secede rather than acquiesce,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: I can hire what I should want for a few months, for a trifle,
and my gondolier can bring the things round in his boat.
Of course in this great house you must have a second kitchen,
and my servant, who is a wonderfully handy fellow" (this personage
was an evocation of the moment), "can easily cook me a chop there.
My tastes and habits are of the simplest; I live on flowers!"
And then I ventured to add that if they were very poor
it was all the more reason they should let their rooms.
They were bad economists--I had never heard of such a
waste of material.
I saw in a moment that the good lady had never before been spoken
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: woods, and there I called together all the men whom I had ever served,
--do you hear me, Bonaparte?--and we marched to the vineyard of the
Portas. We got there at five in the morning; at seven they were all
before God. Giacomo declares that Eliza Vanni saved a child, Luigi.
But I myself bound him to his bed before setting fire to the house. I
have left the island with my wife and child without being able to
discover whether, indeed, Luigi Porta is alive."
Bonaparte looked with curiosity at Bartolomeo, but without surprise.
"How many were there?" asked Lucien.
"Seven," replied Piombo. "All of them were your persecutors in the
olden times."
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