THE FIRST INAUGUARAL ADDRESS

LINCOLN

March 4, 1861

John C. Breckenridge

Stephen A. Douglas

Stephen A. Douglas was also a democrat that was nominated for president at a convention in Charleston, South Carolina

John C. Breckenridge was nominated as a democratic representative for president.

Abraham Lincoln John Bell

The Confederates nominated a wealthy, slaveholder named John Bell for president whom was pro- slavery.

Republicans met up in May and nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. Abraham was thought to be a semi- underdog against the expected nomination winner, William H. Seward.

SLAVERY

“I have no purpose, directly

or indirectly, to interfere with the

institution of slavery in the

States where it exists.”

To Paraphrase…

I have no intention to get rid of slavery, only to stop it from spreading to areas where it doesn’t exist now.

“Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States, that by the accession of a Republican Administration, their property, and their peace, and personal security, are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension”

To summarize this phrase…

Lincoln stated that he had no intention of endangering the Southern States peace and property (slaves). And that there had never been any reason for that assumption towards the Southerners

“The Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution.”

Lincoln is saying that the Union is continuous and eternal (everlasting). That the Union is formed by its history, not its Constitution. He is saying that the Constitution doesn’t define the Union.

Only four slave states stayed in the Union. These four were Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri.

= Left before Inaugural Address= Left After Inaugural Address

Democracy is a way of saying that the people decide- or at least the majority of the people decide who they want for president. By seceding, the states were showing that they were willing to destroy a nation even though the way that things run in the Union could change easily. The Confederates were putting themselves before America as a whole.

Lincoln only received about 40% of the vote for president, while the other candidates received 60% altogether.

Lincoln’s name did not appear on any of the southern state’s ballot’s, so in order to win the election, he had to win over a lot of the free states including Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Indiana which were undecided states- or swing states.

A Warning of Secession

“Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence, and beyond the reach of each other; but the different parts of our country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face”

To paraphrase this, Lincoln is saying that America cannot physically divide itself. No matter how separated they feel they can never be physically separated.

Cause… Effect…Secession started when southern states got nervous that having Abraham Lincoln as a president would endanger their lifestyle which included slavery. This fear lead to the action of forming the Confederacy.

The tension increases between the Confederacy and the Union. At the peak of tensions between the Confederacy and the Union secession leads to war.

Because Lincoln is saying that the Union is everlasting, the idea of states seceding from the union and forming a Confederacy is fictional and virtually impossible.

Lincoln had ignored the fact that secession was happening before his eyes as he ran for president because of his opinion about the Confederacy. He came to the realization eventually, but damage to the Union because of secession had already been taken to extremes.

A Man of the Union

“The Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history of the Union itself.”

“We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union…”

Lincoln is saying that the Union must stay united, though their bonds have been stretched over bullets, battlefields and opinions. Even so, for the time that America was united we thrived. And we will overcome this bump in the road to once again sing out as a united nation.

THE END

BY: Lily, Rachel, Anna, Olivia