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Abraham Lincoln's Controversial Speech

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From the time of one of the greatest presidents of all time Abraham Lincoln, there were several issues the United States faced to coexist as “One Nation Under God”. Before the inauguration of the 15th president the seeds of war were already planted and Lincoln would enter his term at a time when the United States would fight for their own rules for the country. Confederacy represented the southern states where they sought to keep the law of having slaves throughout their parts, however Lincoln would not stand for this kind of rule. He saw that the first fathers of the United States created this country for equal unalienable rights for all. For many Americans, especially African-American slaves gaining freedom was becoming one step closer and …show more content…

A few days before the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, Vice President of the Confederacy Alexander Stephens delivers a controversial speech that explains their issues and about Abraham Lincoln becoming the next president. One of his main points Stephens makes is about slavery and more importantly the abolition of slavery. Since the beginning, founding fathers did not look far into the situation of African-American rights. The Confederacy “cornerstone” was the thought of “opposed to the equality in freedom of all human beings”. (Lawler) The southern states did not like the idea of letting all slaves be free. They are already an inferior race to mankind in the United States but, the truth of the matter is that all people living in America have the same rights as white folks and can live their lives with liberty and happiness. Alexander Stephen’s cornerstone speech was a bold statement made for the North Union to consider because they made it clear the South would fight for their culture. The Confederates leader Jefferson Davis would also contribute to the issues the Southern states. Fort Sumter was held by the Union and they were running low on supplies to survive. It was vital for their survival to acquire rationed food from the North. Davis believed that this was “an aggressive act” (Schultz). Lincoln showed that he cared for the survival of the people first and not the issues each side faced. One of his goals were to change America’s customs of slavery but also wanted to have a nation of peace. Davis concluded with tensions rising the last straw would be the firing on Fort Sumter and thus started the Civil

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Abraham Lincoln wanted to end the war and have peace for the united states.” Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation freed millions of slaves in confederate held territory.” This upset the the south because they used slaves for

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During the election of 1860, Lincoln had run for president and won. He was from the North, and believed that the country’s government would not be able to endure half slave and half free. His intent was to end slavery, or at the very least, stop it from spreading. The South didn’t agree with his views, and decided that they wouldn’t live in a slavery-free country. Soon, they began to secede, and the South had left on their

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President Abraham Lincoln, in his inaugural address, addresses the topic of the civil war and its effects on the nation and argues that America could be unified once more. He supports his claim by using massive amounts of parallel structure and strong word choice. Lincoln ‘s purpose is to contemplate the effects of the civil war in order to unite the broken America once again. He adopts a very hopeful tone for his audience, the readers of the inaugural address and others interested in the topic of American history and the civil war.

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President Lincoln early in the war realized that if the Union was to win the war against the Confederacy, that steps would need to be taken to return the seceded states back into the Union and stabilize the United States as one front to the rest of the world. President Lincoln also understood that part of the reason for secession of southern states was due to Federal Government infringing on state’s rights and to mitigate this issue he believed that a more moderate approach was needed for a quick a successful reconstruction to occur. Under Lincoln’s original plan, the Confederacy and its people would not be sought out for punishment, but as equals in a joint effort to return the United States to its prewar era. His plan for Reconstruction was

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Despite President Lincoln stating, “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so” (Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, 1). He was a strong Republican and it was these views that resulted in his being elected to the highest office in the United States. His opponents saw his election as a threat to their individual State’s rights. In the President’s eyes, the states could and should not be seceding.

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Lincoln following his campaign goals supported abolishing slavery. The South was not happy when Lincoln became president because they knew he was against slavery and realized the threat he brought to their “peculiar institutions.” This led to the southern states to believe there was no hope for them to stay with the Union if Lincoln were to become President. If slavery were to be abolished, then their own individual states will not prosper. South Carolina was the first state to leave the Union, and this led to more states leaving to create a new group called the Confederation.

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At certain times throughout the Civil War and times leading up to it, the Union posed a bigger threat towards slavery than other times. In Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, he stated that he supported the fugitive slave law and he “[had] no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. [He believed he had] no lawful right to do so, and [had] no inclination to do so” (Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, page 1). This was when the South’s fears that the Union planned on abolishing slavery were at an all time

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Lincoln was trying to get the Confederates to give in to the North by January 1st, 1863 (Lincoln 1862). This was a part of the Emancipation Proclamation and if the Confederates were to surrender, they could keep their slaves, and keep the Union

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Though the reason for the South secession was claimed not to be about slavery, but rather “states rights”, it was ultimately over the right to keep African Americans enslaved. For the North, though there was an abolitionist's motive, Lincoln initially fought just to keep the United States together. When Union Major General Butler came across many slaves who came to Fort Monroe for refuge from rebel states owners, he asked questions regarding their stance (Document A). He raised the unavoidable question, “is their condition that of men, women, and children, or of property, or is it a mixed relation?”, and didn’t fail to note how they were “able bodied” for the war, though initially during the beginnings of the Civil War people were hesitant to let African Americans participate. However, after a long delay even Lincoln supported Africans fighting for the Union in the Civil War, as noted in a letter where he refutes critics against the fact (Document C).

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President Lincoln stated that: “if I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it,..., and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would do it.”. This quote clearly shows that the freedom of slaves was not his concern and unnecessary if it did not help the Union; as the result, slavery still exists if there is no war. Free slave from bondage should be a Great Emancipator’s primary goal and he will do his best to achieve it no matter what, but president Lincoln’s thought differed from that because all he cares was the Union. Although he had many times admitting himself an anti-slavery but his words and thoughts obviously prove that he is

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This phrase took on a new meeting during the civil war, because as the war turned to one over the morality of slavery in the United States, one has to touch on the unalienable rights that are given to all men, and decide whether such rights apply to the black man as well. As Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”. Here, Lincoln argues that slavery violates the American value of equality, as African Americans are subjected to unfair treatment under the rule of the Confederacy. As the war became more about slavery, Lincoln finally acted upon his beliefs and put into act the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation stated that freed all the slaves in states that opposed the union, which includes the Confederacy.

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The Union, also known as the Northern States, wanted to ban slavery, but the Confederacy, or the Southern States, wanted slavery to remain legal. When President Lincoln was elected, the Confederacy decided to secede from the Union in fear that Lincoln would ban slavery. Their secession led to the outbreak of the Civil War. In the end, the Union ended up winning the war due

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Abraham Lincoln, our president at the time, had seen the cruelty of slavery, and thought it was morally wrong, but he wanted his main goal in the war to be to keep the United States as one, and not let the South break free as their own nation. After 2 years of the bloody war, people were starting to ask themselves,

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It would be more than difficult not to read Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address without some sense of pride or honor for one’s own country. He brings about a call to civility among all citizens striving for unity and harmony with one another. Lincoln understood the dilemma that slavery became for not only the Northerners attempting to abolish the practice entirely, but also for the Southerners perpetuating it in the first place. The fact that there was a faction rising in favor of slavery on a scale that would divide the country indefinitely and that Lincoln foresaw this danger demonstrates the level of prudence he was able to acquire up until his presidency. In this address, Lincoln stressed the importance of the nation staying unified and true to the principles set by

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The Civil War is one of the most important and crucial crisis in US history. Many southern states starting with South Carolina were angry with the federal government at the time so they decided to secede from the union. An underlying cause behind secession were the restrictions on slavery including the ban on the importation of slaves and the attempted banning of slavery in new territories. The north’s reason for fighting was different though, President Lincoln declared it was illegal to secede from the union even if the state decided to in a democratic election. The North had also wanted to keep the farms and ports in the south in order to increase trading.

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