How Did Lincoln's Inaugural Address Dbq

Lincoln’s main goal for his presidency was to unify the Union after the Civil War had torn the North and the South apart. In Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address” he says, “While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war...” (Lincoln 68). When Lincoln was elected for his first term, he wanted to unify the Union even before the war had

Abraham Lincoln started all that before he was in office, so imagine what he did when he became president of the United States. When Lincoln was elected there was a long series of policy clashes between the South and the North. The clash wasn’t just about slavery. It was a clash of elites. The Northern elite wanted economic expansion. Such as, free land; free labor, free market, and much more. Lincoln had all of this in mind, even the slaves. The slaves saw Lincoln as their ticket to freedom. The South was for slavery, so when they notice Lincoln was trying to abolish slavery they started to secede from the union. Lincoln tried to get some of the states back and more seceded. The confederacy was formed; the civil war was on.

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most well known presidents in the history of the United States of America. He as thought to be the man who led this great country through the toughest times it had to encounter. His determination to get the United States through the Civil War is one of the best things that have ever happened for this country. Lincoln’s argument about the relationship between slavery, the Constitution, and the Union changed throughout the Civil War. Lincoln’s view of the purpose of the war was to save the Union because of the southern states seceding from the Union. However, the argument changed to the war being about slavery because of Fredrick Douglass’s speeches and the Confederates surrendering at

Although Lincoln was very tolerant of the institution of slavery in the Southern States even though he did not fully support it, he did not stand for a nation divided. As the southern states continued to remove themselves from the Union, Lincoln feared they were attempting to disrupt the order of things in the nation. The Union of States is considered to be perpetual. It is the fundamental law of all national governments; no government would allow provisions in its constitution that would allow for it to be terminated. He states that since the beginning of the Union there has been progression only towards strengthening the Union and the establishment of the Constitution was to “form a more perfect Union” (671). As States continue to secede the nation is becoming less perfect because the vital element of perpetuity is lost. States are legally bound to remain a part of the

President Abraham Lincoln took the phrases “to form a more perfect union” and “to promote the general welfare “ from the preamble to heart. This is why when the South seceded from the union Lincoln went to war. The south seceding meant that the United State of America was becoming a weaker and a worse union and Lincoln could not allow this to happen. Lincoln also realized that the length and intensity of the war was destroying the people of the union and knew that when this war was over he needed to ensure that it would never happen again, and thus issued the emancipation proclamation. In issuing this proclamation Lincoln ensured that the issue of slavery would no longer be able to divide the country and also took the first step toward promoting the welfare of all the people, regardless of race. Along with the thirteenth amendment the fourteenth

Lincoln said his paramount object was to save the Union, and if he could accomplish that by not freeing any slaves, he would free none; "if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by

Lincoln has different to eliminate slavery but that would be impossible. He also speaks about the education slaves had perspectives on slavery. He expresses his feelings and views on slavery in every speech he gives but in each speech he has different points of view. On some of the speeches he talks about how fast he wants in the southern states and how men preferred to have slaves instead of common men. He also talks of how they worked and were treated horribly. But then his opinions were also indecisive, he wants to satisfy the majority of states by stating his opinions in a way that satisfies the ideas pertain to slavery just to gain political power over his presidential election.

Lincoln was not ready to abolish slavery in the South, nor was he ready to take too extreme of a stance on the subject. Good politicians never lean to extreme on an issue for fear of losing popularity with the other side, and Lincoln was smart and tried to stay more neutral. He was very hesitant to act to fast or make any drastic decisions because he was scared to completely lose the South. Lincoln had little to gain from slavery and much to lose at that time. A presidential attack on slavery would cause controversy in the north over war goals, create further want for secession in the South and make the South turn against him even more, making restoration of the Union far more difficult (Klingaman 71). Politically, the better choice was to not make any extreme choices for slavery. In the summer of 1964, he even tried to write a statement for peace terms that stated that any proposition for peace, the abandonment of slavery, and an end to the war would be considered by the United States government (Lincoln 201). But this statement was disregarded by the south because it called for abolition. The south was still not willing to compromise and therefore Lincoln could not take a stand completely against slavery. That is why he was never committed to abolishing slavery, only stopping it from expanding out of the South. Unionists who were opposed to abolition were told

“It will become all one thing or all the other.” Lincoln says that he expects the Union to decide on having slaves, or not having slaves. He wants the Union to decide on one thing. But the Southern states wanting slaves, and the Northern states wanting slaves freed, is mostly what caused them arguing. The North and South benefit from each other and it would have not been smart to secede because they both need supplies and food from each

Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860. As a president of the United States, Lincoln’s goal was to keep the Union together. The problem of slavery and the secession by the South are mainly the two issues that lead to the dissolve of the Union, in which Lincoln put all his efforts to deal with during his presidency. “He believes this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. He does not expect the Union to be dissolved; He does not expect the house to fall; but he does expect it will cease to be divided.” Lincoln claimed that it is

Abraham Lincoln is the first Republican president that announced that he wanted to keep slavery out of the territories but he respected slavery where it had already existed. Several southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. The northerners refused to acknowledge the secession because they believed it was illegal and illegitimate. Abraham Lincoln wanted to save the Union in the fastest possible way. He believed as soon as national authority was reestablished, the nation would become the Union it was once before. The main goal was to preserve the unity of the America and whether slavery is saved or destroyed depended if it helps save the Union. Even before the civil war ended, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. Emancipation was not initially a war aim but by the summer of 1862, in order to win support in Europe, the government made abolition an objective. By January of 1863, the Proclamation stated that all slaves in areas of rebellion against the United States, shall then be freed of bondage. Although this was only a start to the political and social transformation in America, it was the start of revolutionizing the social and political status of blacks. Eventually, black males were granted proper social and political rights such as the right to vote and the right to own land (Doc 1, Garraty 398-399).

While he might have pointed a heavier finger towards the South, he reminded the audience that “all dreaded it, [and] all sought to avert it.” The country couldn’t be united if the population was constantly blaming each other. He emphasized that while the whole country might have been at fault, the cause was “localized in the southern part.” What started as a disagreement between two parts of a country turned into the bloodiest war fought in the young country’s history. “Neither party expected… the magnitude” of the war, and “neither anticipated that the cause” (which was slavery) would end “before the conflict… should cease.” Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation before the end of the Civil War, so the main cause of the war was essentially concluded before the war itself was concluded. So, in conclusion, he managed to unite the country even further by acknowledging that both the North and the South held part of the blame of the

Lincoln suggests that the institution of slavery be contained by preventing the spread of it to the new territories and Free states, although he had no interest in interfering with the already entitled slave states. He agrees that it was the right of the state to make its own decisions, not the federal government. Although Lincoln did not favor getting involved with abolishing slavery in the already declared slave states, he did favor total abolition in the distant future. He was first worried about stopping the expansion of slavery and then the next step to be taken would have been the "ultimate extinction" of it throughout the states. Lincoln did believe that every white man had no more equality than another. For this is one of the main reasons why at this time a resolution needed to be found in order to keep this equality in the new territories. Lincoln made a valid point in his speech that if slave holders were to settle in a new territory along with people opposed to slavery, which party has the right to decide what type of territory and future state it will be declared as? As for the rights of slaves, Lincoln agreed with Douglas that slaves did not have the same individual rights as everyone else, but he did believe that the liberties given under the Declaration of Independence involved such slaves. It is obvious that the Republicans of this time find slavery as being a "moral, social, and political wrong",

Lincoln states "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that." Lincoln was strictly for the Union and if he could save the Union and end slavery he would, but his first thoughts were for the Union, and only the Union. He deals with slavery in this manner because he does not want to upset or cause turmoil in the South. Even though the Civil War was going on, he wants it to end and the Union to be whole.

When Lincoln spoke to Congress in December of 1864, he enhanced the idea of freedom for all by saying, "In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom for the free…" He was fully aware that the Civil War would change the course of the future of the United States of America, and that his choices during the war would tip the scale towards continued democracy, or the death of it. He strongly believed that if the Confederacy were to win the war, and the American experiment in democracy were to fail, that the ‘beacon of hope for oppressed humanity the world over would be destroyed.'