How Did Lincoln's Inaugural Address
Summary of Source
In the election of 1860, the Democratic Party as a collective whole chose a presidential nominee. Democrats were those who were pro-slavery, that also consisted of Southern delegates. The Constitutional Party included pro-Union Democrats who nominated John Bell, the Republican Party selected Abraham Lincoln, while the Democratic chose Stephen Douglas. For the final balloting, Lincoln had lost the popular vote with 39.9 percent, but he attained 180 Electoral College Votes, that had put him ahead of the other candidates.On March 4, 1861, it was Lincoln’s first time addressing the national as the president. In his inaugural, he tried to directly talk about the issues concerning the Union and the division of slavery. He approached the topic with a neutral ground since he did not want to ignite any …show more content…
He states that he will try to make laws make the Union be executed under the Constitution and that “the American people, shall withhold the requisite means or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary.” The fact that he says that Americans have the right to not agree with him on every stance and political action, shows that he was aware of the opposing views about statehood and slavery. Lincoln had to address the nation in a manner that did not infuriate those who would not have agreed with his beliefs. Though Lincoln had maintained a perspective that did not linger on the issue of slavery, his speech still had a rhetoric that was trying to help people see slavery in a different light. In his speech, he includes a quote about fugitive slaves which says that a person who is conditioned as a slave to a person, under the law, “shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due,” which sums up the right of a slave to be free in in consideration of the slaveholder, not the
In the election of 1860, the Democratic Party as a collective whole chose a presidential nominee. Democrats were those who were pro-slavery, that also consisted of Southern delegates. The Constitutional Party included pro-Union Democrats who nominated John Bell, the Republican Party selected Abraham Lincoln, while the Democratic chose Stephen Douglas. For the final balloting, Lincoln had lost the popular vote with 39.9 percent, but he attained 180 Electoral College Votes, that had put him ahead of the other candidates.On March 4, 1861, it was Lincoln’s first time addressing the national as the president. In his inaugural, he tried to directly talk about the issues concerning the Union and the division of slavery. He approached the topic with a neutral ground since he did not want to ignite any …show more content…
He states that he will try to make laws make the Union be executed under the Constitution and that “the American people, shall withhold the requisite means or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary.” The fact that he says that Americans have the right to not agree with him on every stance and political action, shows that he was aware of the opposing views about statehood and slavery. Lincoln had to address the nation in a manner that did not infuriate those who would not have agreed with his beliefs. Though Lincoln had maintained a perspective that did not linger on the issue of slavery, his speech still had a rhetoric that was trying to help people see slavery in a different light. In his speech, he includes a quote about fugitive slaves which says that a person who is conditioned as a slave to a person, under the law, “shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due,” which sums up the right of a slave to be free in in consideration of the slaveholder, not the