"The nation..... is of age, and can do what it pleases; it can spurn the traditions of the past; it can repudiate the principles upon which the nation rests; it can employ force instead of reason; it can substitute might for right; it can conquer weaker people; it can exploit their lands; appropriate their property and kill their people; but it cannot repeal the moral law or escape the punishment decreed for the violation of human rights"

William Jennings Bryan - December 1898