In President Lincoln's first Inaugural Address, he waxes lawyerly as he makes his case for why the Union can not be broken. He suggested that both universal law and the Constitution disallow the dissolution of the Union and furthermore that the Union even predates the Constitution itself. Though Lincoln is adamant on his stance of Union perpetuity, he concedes much when he speaks of federal enforcement of this ideal. He states that he will not use force to enforce unless absolutely necessary and gives the greatest concession when he states that he would not force the acceptance of federal officers if the south found it to be undesirable to submit to their authority.
Lincoln wastes no time getting straight to the topic of secession in his address, which expresses the significant importance which he felt this issue would have upon his presidency.
Dear Demetrius,
ReplyDeleteThis post is a little late, but I will count it anyway (half-credit).
Best, Prof Morgan