LAD/Blog #15: Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

          Lincoln first addresses the institution of slavery. He states that he has no reason or power to interfere with the states that still use it. In fact, he went as far to say that the Constitution stated it plainly: Any fugitive slave would be held accountable and delivered back to their former owner. Lincoln believed that states had the right to control their own institutions, given that it benefitted rather than hurt the nation. He thought that states controlling themselves was essential to the balance and checks of power needed for the government to survive. Even so, the Union must be preserved and he would go to war, if necessary. Lincoln specifically predicted how the South would be the ones to strike first and forcefully addressed the topic of secession, but not to a point of threats. In his final words, Lincoln reminds the nation that they need to at least try to get along, because they are not the enemies.

Washington's Farewell Address also discussed

the Union remaining intact. He warned against

splitting the nation in two because bad things would

happen. In Lincoln's case, it was the Civil War.