Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

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Being a president is a hard job. They have to make decisions that affect the whole country, which can take a toll on anybody. With the country's hard times during Lincoln's presidency he changed. As the president he changed his views on slavery, the war, and how he was going to uphold the Constitution. The Confederates felt if they stayed as part of the Union their rights were at risk. Primarily slavery, considering Lincoln became President and was a representative for the Republican party, which was the side that didn't approve slavery. Lincoln at first becoming President and even beforehand claimed to not have any plans to end slavery. He says in his First Inaugural that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution …show more content…

Lincoln had an approach before the war, between the Union and Confederates, to try to calm down the seceding states and bring them back to the Union. He spoke of how "the property, peace and security of no section are to be in anywise endangered by the now incoming Administration", which at the time seemed valid. He was working his best to avoid war, and seemed to make statements that would work, and had faith that the war was preventable. In Lincoln's Second Inaugural he mentioned how "both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came" which is saying war was unavoidable. During his early presidency he seemed to firmly believe no war was an option, later while the war raged on, Lincoln admits war was unavoidable, which is a huge change for him considering how confident he seemed before the war, laying out how he wasn't a threat, he was to only uphold the …show more content…

"I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so" Lincoln said in his First Inaugural, talking about slavery. He says he can't do so because the Constitution does not mention slavery, so he does not feel inclined to try and change slavery as a president. He later does change the Constitution. Lincoln along with the other branches of government passed the bill to grant slaves their freedom. The Lincoln movie showed clearly how he changed the Constitution by proposing the bill, which he said he didn't see changing slavery as his right. Lincoln changed drastically in this way, going from believing he had no right to change slave's rights to changing such. To the old fresh president who just walked into office he would be considered breaking the law, since he said he said how "I have no lawful right to do so" and by the end of his presidency he actually goes fully against what he says by doing what he claimed was