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Abraham Lincoln And The Civil War

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In the mid-1800s, in the second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln identified the civil war as religious war: it is a will of God. He stated, God “gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe”; therefore, “with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in” (Lincoln). Opposite to Douglas ideas that slavery is natural, secular, and constitutional right, Lincoln asserted anti-slavery, linked to Evangelical Protestantism (Magagna). Against evolutionism, he appealed the religious morality, thoughts, and behaviors in order to demolish institutional slavery in the United States (Magagna). In his biblical terms, Lincoln justified the civil war as the providence of America, the punishment of the sin of slavery, and the promise of national redemption. That is, Lincoln asserted “no bargain with the South and Slavery” through the religious languages (Magagna). It is religious politics that Lincoln showed and succeeded during the Civil War. Rooted in the individual faith in Evangelical Protestantism, Lincoln emphasized religious morality and changed it into social responsibility by using biblical terms. People responded to Lincoln’s language, and people brought their faith to bear on political action, participating in the Civil War (Magagna). In this way, anti-slavery issue became religious politics. Likewise, based on the personal religious belief, when a specific issue creates the incentives for

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