LAD #14: Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Lincoln begins his inaugural address by stating southern concerns regarding their rights under his Republican administration will be safeguarded as is defined by the constitution. On the topic of fugitive slaves, he will stand by the constitutional rights of property that the southerners call for. Lincoln stresses that his administration will strictly follow the document that unifies the nation, the Constitution, and that in a time were disruption of the federal union is threatened he will strive to keep the Union in tact. He questions the authority of the Constitution though, if one state has the right to destroy the federal union as outlined in the Constitution, obviously taking an indirect jab at how one state's secession is in fact not legally acceptable and that the Constitution is truly unifying. Eventually, he comes to the specific point of slavery, with which he has been hinting at throughout. At this point he makes sure to state that the Union and the Constitution must be asserted through all the states to ensure its binding effects. But it must be literally used as a guide for union, in that it gives no authority for the government over the abolition or the support of slavery, that is a states right previously noted not to be violated through treasonous military actions of the federal authority. Although the slavery issue may never be settled, he believes that unity amongst the states is paramount as the issues will become ingrained permanently if the union dissolves and the slave issue becomes truly divisive. Although he union of the states is strained, it always has been one of compromise and tension, but these tensions have been put aside in the past for the sake of mutual benefit in the form a union. Secession may lead to the loss of the goal of democracy fought for by the founding fathers. All in all, the speech concludes by again reiterating that the nation must be one of friends with conflicting opinions as a opposed to enemies sharing in each others demise.