US Presidency
1850

Nations, like individuals in a state of nature, are equal and independent, possessing certain rights and owing certain duties to each other, arisingfrom their necessary and unavoidable relations; which rights and dutiesthere is no common human authority to protect and enforce. Still, theyare rights and duties, binding in morals, in conscience, and in honor, although there is no tribunal to which an injured party can appeal butthe disinterested judgment of mankind, and ultimately the arbitrament ofthe sword. Among the acknowledged rights of nations is that which each possessesof establishing that form of government which it may deem most conduciveto the happiness and prosperity of its own citizens, of changing that formas circumstances may require, and of managing its internal affairs accordingto its own will. The people of the United States claim this right for themselves, and they readily concede it to others.