Carolina QuotesI am a-goin' for to tell you here to-day; yes, I'm a-goin for to tell you all, that I'm a plebian! I glory in it; I am a plebian! The people — yes, the people of the United States have made me what I am; and I am a-goin' for to tell you here to-day — yes, to-day, in this place — that the people are everything.
Andrew Johnson Carolinian
Source
First address as Vice-President, widely reported as having been delivered while he was inebriated. (5 March 1865).
- year
- 1865
Cite this record
“I am a-goin' for to tell you here to-day; yes, I'm a-goin fo…” Andrew Johnson. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-0214755749. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/0214755749
More from Andrew Johnson
It may be safely assumed as an axiom in the government of states that the greatest wrongs inflicted upon a people are caused by unjust and arbitrary legislation, or by the unrelenting decrees of despotic rulers, and that the timely revocation of injurious and oppressive measures is the greatest good that can be conferred upon a nation. The legislator or ruler who has the wisdom and magnanimity to retrace his steps when convinced of error will sooner or later be rewarded with the respect and gratitude of an intelligent and patriotic people. Our own history, although embracing a period less than a century, affords abundant proof that most, if not all, of our domestic troubles are directly traceable to violations of the organic law and excessive legislation.
This is your country as well as anybody else's country. This country is founded upon the principle of equality. He that is meritorious and virtuous, intellectual and well informed, must stand highest, without regard to color.
It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word.