The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
"I am struggling to maintain government, not to overthrow it.
I am struggling especially to prevent others from overthrowing it.
I therefore say, that if I shall live, I shall remain President until the fourth of next March; and that whoever shall be constitutionally elected therefore in November shall be duly installed as President on the fourth of March; and that in the interval I shall do my utmost that whoever is to hold the helm for the interval for the next voyage shall start with the best possible chance to save the ship.
-Response to a serenade by a group of Maryland citizens, Oct. 1864