LAD #12 First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is not going to talk about unimportant things right now. There is uncertainty regarding the Southern states at this time. Lincoln is not going to get interefere with the slave states since because of the constitution he cannot. He made this very clear in his platform. It is the rights of the states to decide the issue of slavery. When Lincoln is the president no states will be denied there basic rights. He helps to explain that the fugitive slave controversy by quoting Article IV. Section 2 in the constitution. Congress and the rest of the government officials are to abide by that law. There are arguements about whether the nation or the states should deal with this. The slave doesn't care with who deals with it. Free blacks or slaves should be considered under the clause that states garauntee "the citizens of each stat shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states." There have been 15 great presidents before Lincoln and they all did an excellent job in the executive position. He, however is entering the office at a difficult time: Disunity within the Union. If we follow the constitution the Union will be able to last. The Union, however has lasted longer than the constitution has since the Union was started in 1774 with the Articles of Association. If the Union can be destroyed now it proves that we are weaker than before the constitution was written. No one state is allowed to leave the Union. Lincoln is determined to practice the laws of the constitution in every state. We can preserve the Union without having a war. There are some people who would like to destroy the Union, but there are also those who wish to preserve it. Your rights in the constitution are never denied and if they are then you have a reason to revolt. If a miniority amount of states decide to seceeded, then why can't the majority as well. The United States is constantly changing because of popular opinion and it represents popular sovereignty. Anyone who is against this must be an anarchist. The Judicial branch also has a say in the way the constitution is interpreted they decide what is constitutional and what is not. Part of our country wants slavery and part of it does not. The foreign slave trade is now illegal and is being enforced. United States citizens can peacefully revolt by ammending the constitution. The people of the United States think that the Chief Magistrate should fix the Union, but Lincoln says that the people can help to fix the Union. The people of the United States need to be friends, not enemies.