Lincoln's First Inaugural Adress

Summary:

On Monday, March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln delivered his first inaugural speech which started his presidential career strongly. When Lincoln was elected to be the sixteenth president of the United States, he lost the popular vote, but won the electoral votes needed to win. This meant that the majority of the country was against supporting him, which put extra pressure on Lincoln to deliver a concrete speech to convince them that he was a solid president. 

The actual speech itself was indirectly focused on the South, who's seven states had recently seceded to form the Confederate States of America. Throughout his speech, and throughout his entire presidency, Lincoln never actually acknowledged the Confederate States of America as an actual nation. In fact he still considered them to be part of the Union, ignoring the fact that they seceded altogether. He specified that he did not intend to use force upon the Confederate States of America, but he made it clear that he would do whatever it took to keep the Union together. He emphasized the importance of unity between the South and the North by using the word "union" twenty times. Lincoln said he would only use force if it was necessary to "hold, occupy, and possess the property and places" that belonged to the Federal Government, or if the South applied hostile force first. 

Lincoln mentioned several other things in his speech such as his willingness to enforce the fugitive slave law, a general overview of his slavery polices, and his view on the legality of the current Southern Situation. As far as Lincoln was concerned, he was fully supportive of the Fugitive Slave Act as long as nobody took advantage of it and illegally sold free blacks back into slavery. He also had no intentions of changing any of the Southern legislation concerning slavery. He said that he had "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 indication to do so". Lincoln quoted presidential oath that he had taken before hand by saying that he had promised to "preserve, protect, and defend the United States Constitution", and he believed that it was still his duty to enforce the laws of the constitution, even in those states that had seceded. Towards the end of his speech, the Illinois native closed his speech with "I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies". His main goal for his presidency, which he made quite clear, was not the issue of slavery, but keeping the Union intact and in harmony.