Comparison Of The Civil War And John S. Preston

The coming of the Civil War caused the level of uneasiness to grow ever greater with the threat of more states seceding and the election of President Lincoln. It was barely a century since the Revolutionary War had ended, and the threat of a new war seemed just around the corner. This was not a war between external foes, but one between brothers. The secession of South Carolina in 1860 brought seemed to bring tensions between the northern and southern states to a head. Both John S. Preston and President Lincoln gave speeches that greatly influenced the war. Their respective speeches, “Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address” and “John Smith Preston on Recession,” both had a large impact on the events leading up to the Civil War. While analyzing the

Preston was a large figure in southern politics, particularly in Virginia and South Carolina. He wrote an address for the Convention of Virginia on February 19, 1861. Mr. Preston contributed to the constant debate of whether the secession of states was even legal. In this speech he gave reasons as to why the southern secession is reasonable and valid. The non-slave holding states were invading the slave states, and Preston used these actions to further demonstrate his points. He stated that the free states were willing to even destroy their own government to get the rest of the Union to change to their views to be more in-line with their own. The Democrats saw this as unethical, even unlawful. While Preston did not have any issues with Northern Free States invading the Southern Slave States, he held the standing that Southern States seceding was illegal. The political union was seen to be “...unnatural and monstrous; and its offspring must be abortive and fruitless, save of that fearful brood of woes which must always come from such conjunctions” (John Smith Preston on Secession, 3). Regardless of his state of mind or his motivations, his actions from these views were not

President from March 1861 through his untimely death in April 1865, as a result of his assassination. He was the country’s President throughout the Civil War. His election was no doubt a major factor in both the events in and leading up to the war. His first Inaugural Address certainly did not fail to influence the timing of the war. His remarks seemed to be in response to Mr. Preston’s statements, given the date and connection between the two documents. 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. He believed that the Northern and Southern States were acting as if they were separating from a marriage, but when in fact this was much deeper both emotionally and geographically. President Lincoln directly addressed this when he said, “A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and intercourse,