Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address PDF Author: Abraham Lincoln
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 23

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book features the inaugural address given by Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1861, as he was sworn in as the sixteenth President of the United States. In the midst of secession by seven states in the South, Lincoln delivered a conciliatory speech addressed to the people of the region, outlining his intended policies towards them. He made a commitment to maintain government property and stated that the Union would not interfere with slavery where it existed. At the same time, he warned that any use of arms against the United States would be met with force. Lincoln ended with a plea for unity, reminding Americans of their common bonds and the need to avoid passion and division. This address was delivered just before the start of the American Civil War, which began with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12.

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address PDF Author: Abraham Lincoln
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 23

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book features the inaugural address given by Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1861, as he was sworn in as the sixteenth President of the United States. In the midst of secession by seven states in the South, Lincoln delivered a conciliatory speech addressed to the people of the region, outlining his intended policies towards them. He made a commitment to maintain government property and stated that the Union would not interfere with slavery where it existed. At the same time, he warned that any use of arms against the United States would be met with force. Lincoln ended with a plea for unity, reminding Americans of their common bonds and the need to avoid passion and division. This address was delivered just before the start of the American Civil War, which began with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12.

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address PDF Author: Abraham Lincoln
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781980655114
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 28

Get Book Here

Book Description
Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln.Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address was delivered on Monday, March 4, 1861, as part of his taking of the oath of office for his first term as the sixteenth President of the United States. The speech was primarily addressed to the people of the South, and was intended to succinctly state Lincoln's intended policies and desires toward that section, where seven states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.Written in a spirit of reconciliation toward the seceded states, Lincoln's inaugural address touched on several topics: first, his pledge to "hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government"--including Fort Sumter, which was still in Federal hands; second, his argument that the Union was undissolvable, and thus that secession was impossible; and third, a promise that while he would never be the first to attack, any use of arms against the United States would be regarded as rebellion, and met with force. The inauguration took place on the eve of the American Civil War, which began soon after with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter.Lincoln denounced secession as anarchy, and explained that majority rule had to be balanced by constitutional restraints in the American system of republicanism:A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people."[1]Desperately wishing to avoid this terrible conflict, Lincoln ended with this impassioned plea:I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. AuthorAbraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865) was an American statesman and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War--its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy.Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the western frontier in Kentucky and Indiana. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, and was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, in which he served for eight years. Elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy and opposed the Mexican-American War. After a single term, he returned to Illinois and resumed his successful law practice. Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building the new Republican Party, which had a statewide majority in Illinois. As part of the 1858 campaign for US Senator from Illinois, Lincoln took part in a series of highly publicized debates with his opponent and rival, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas; Lincoln spoke out against the expansion of slavery, but lost the race to Douglas. In 1860, Lincoln secured the Republican Party presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state, though most delegates originally favored other candidates. Though he gained very little support in the slaveholding states of the South, he swept the North and was elected president in 1860.Though there were attempts to bridge the differences between North and South, ultimately Lincoln's victory prompted seven southern slave states to secede from the United States and form the Confederate States of America before he moved into the White House.

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address. March 4, 1861

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address. March 4, 1861 PDF Author: Abraham Lincoln
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 20

Get Book Here

Book Description


Every Drop of Blood

Every Drop of Blood PDF Author: Edward Achorn
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
ISBN: 080214876X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 490

Get Book Here

Book Description
This vividly rendered Civil War history presents “a lively guided tour of Washington during the 24 hours or so around Lincoln’s swearing-in” (Adam Goodheart, Washington Post). By March 4, 1865, the Civil War had left intractable wounds on the nation. Tens of thousands crowded Washington’s Capitol grounds that day to see Abraham Lincoln take the oath for a second term—and witness what was perhaps the greatest inaugural address in American history. Lincoln stunned the nation by arguing that both sides had been wrong, and that the war’s unimaginable horrors might have been God’s just verdict on the national sin of slavery. In Every Drop of Blood, Edward Achorn reveals the nation’s capital on that momentous day—with its mud, sewage, and saloons, its prostitutes, spies, reporters, social-climbing spouses and power-hungry politicians. Swirling around the complex figure of Lincoln, a host of characters are brought to life, from grievously wounded Union colonel Selden Connor to the embarrassingly drunk new vice president, Andrew Johnson, to poet-journalist Walt Whitman; from soldiers’ advocate Clara Barton and African American leader Frederick Douglass to conflicted actor John Wilkes Booth. In indelible scenes, Achorn captures the frenzy and division in the nation’s capital at this crucial moment in America’s history. His story offers new understanding of our great national crisis, and echoes down the decades to resonate in our own time.

In Lincoln's Hand

In Lincoln's Hand PDF Author: Abraham Lincoln
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN: 0553807420
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
A collection of writings includes images of a variety of handwritten speeches, letters, and childhood notebooks, accompanied by commentary by James M. McPherson, Ken Burns, Doris Kearns Goodwin, John Updike, Toni Morrison, and other notables.

Lincoln's Greatest Speech

Lincoln's Greatest Speech PDF Author: Ronald C. White
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743299620
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the tradition of Wills's "Lincoln at Gettysburg, Lincoln's Greatest Speech" combines impeccable scholarship and lively, engaging writing to reveal the full meaning of one of the greatest speeches in the nation's history.

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address PDF Author: Abraham Abraham Lincoln
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781521178805
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 66

Get Book Here

Book Description
How is this book unique? Font adjustments & biography included Unabridged (100% Original content) Illustrated About Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address was delivered on Monday, March 4, 1861, as part of his taking of the oath of office for his first term as the sixteenth President of the United States. The speech was primarily addressed to the people of the South, and was intended to succinctly state Lincoln's intended policies and desires toward that section, where seven states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. Written in a spirit of reconciliation toward the seceded states, Lincoln's inaugural address touched on several topics: first, his pledge to "hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government"--including Fort Sumter, which was still in Federal hands; second, his argument that the Union was undissolvable, and thus that secession was impossible; and third, a promise that while he would never be the first to attack, any use of arms against the United States would be regarded as rebellion, and met with force. The inauguration took place on the eve of the American Civil War, which began soon after with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter. Lincoln was chosen to be the Republican candidate in the 1860 presidential election, which he won on November 6 with 180 electoral votes. Between this time and his inauguration on March 4, seven Deep South cotton states--South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas--would secede from the Union. Lincoln's predecessor, James Buchanan, had deplored secession as illegal, but had insisted that the Federal government could do nothing to stop it. The entire nation, together with several interested foreign powers, awaited the President-elect's words on what exactly his policy toward the new Confederacy would be. Lincoln's speech was an effort to answer this question, as well as an attempt to reach out to what he called his "dissatisfied fellow-countrymen" in an effort to avoid the coming conflict. He had held to a strict policy of silence during the months leading up to his inauguration, carefully avoiding making any statements that could be misconstrued by either North or South, prior to becoming the legal leader of the nation. Lincoln's intention was that no statement of his specific policy toward the South should be made available before he had taken office. Those privy to the speech's possible contents were sworn to silence, and Lincoln's draft was kept locked in the safe of the Illinois State Journal newspaper.

Lincoln on Race and Slavery

Lincoln on Race and Slavery PDF Author: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 140083208X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Get Book Here

Book Description
From acclaimed scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the most comprehensive collection of Lincoln's writings on race and slavery Generations of Americans have debated the meaning of Abraham Lincoln's views on race and slavery. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation and supported a constitutional amendment to outlaw slavery, yet he also harbored grave doubts about the intellectual capacity of African Americans, publicly used the n-word until at least 1862, and favored permanent racial segregation. In this book—the first complete collection of Lincoln's important writings on both race and slavery—readers can explore these contradictions through Lincoln's own words. Acclaimed Harvard scholar and documentary filmmaker Henry Louis Gates, Jr., presents the full range of Lincoln's views, gathered from his private letters, speeches, official documents, and even race jokes, arranged chronologically from the late 1830s to the 1860s. Complete with definitive texts, rich historical notes, and an original introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this book charts the progress of a war within Lincoln himself. We witness his struggles with conflicting aims and ideas—a hatred of slavery and a belief in the political equality of all men, but also anti-black prejudices and a determination to preserve the Union even at the cost of preserving slavery. We also watch the evolution of his racial views, especially in reaction to the heroic fighting of black Union troops. At turns inspiring and disturbing, Lincoln on Race and Slavery is indispensable for understanding what Lincoln's views meant for his generation—and what they mean for our own.

Lincoln's Sword

Lincoln's Sword PDF Author: Douglas L. Wilson
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307487539
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Get Book Here

Book Description
Widely considered in his own time as a genial but provincial lightweight who was out of place in the presidency, Abraham Lincoln astonished his allies and confounded his adversaries by producing a series of speeches and public letters so provocative that they helped revolutionize public opinion on such critical issues as civil liberties, the use of black soldiers, and the emancipation of slaves. This is a brilliant and unprecedented examination of how Lincoln used the power of words to not only build his political career but to keep the country united during the Civil War.

Lincoln President-Elect

Lincoln President-Elect PDF Author: Harold Holzer
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 141659440X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 643

Get Book Here

Book Description
One of our most eminent Lincoln scholars, winner of a Lincoln Prize for his Lincoln at Cooper Union, examines the four months between Lincoln's election and inauguration, when the president-elect made the most important decision of his coming presidency—there would be no compromise on slavery or secession of the slaveholding states, even at the cost of civil war. Abraham Lincoln first demonstrated his determination and leadership in the Great Secession Winter—the four months between his election in November 1860 and his inauguration in March 1861—when he rejected compromises urged on him by Republicans and Democrats, Northerners and Southerners, that might have preserved the Union a little longer but would have enshrined slavery for generations. Though Lincoln has been criticized by many historians for failing to appreciate the severity of the secession crisis that greeted his victory, Harold Holzer shows that the presidentelect waged a shrewd and complex campaign to prevent the expansion of slavery while vainly trying to limit secession to a few Deep South states. During this most dangerous White House transition in American history, the country had two presidents: one powerless (the president-elect, possessing no constitutional authority), the other paralyzed (the incumbent who refused to act). Through limited, brilliantly timed and crafted public statements, determined private letters, tough political pressure, and personal persuasion, Lincoln guaranteed the integrity of the American political process of majority rule, sounded the death knell of slavery, and transformed not only his own image but that of the presidency, even while making inevitable the war that would be necessary to make these achievements permanent. Lincoln President-Elect is the first book to concentrate on Lincoln's public stance and private agony during these months and on the momentous consequences when he first demonstrated his determination and leadership. Holzer recasts Lincoln from an isolated prairie politician yet to establish his greatness, to a skillful shaper of men and opinion and an immovable friend of freedom at a decisive moment when allegiance to the founding credo "all men are created equal" might well have been sacrificed.