These were all matters that needed consideration and which attracted the support of the North. His Inaugural Address tried to point them out. In this sense, he considered that the "maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend" Therefore, Lincoln's strategy included the rallying of support based on the idea of unity of the entity which was now the essence of the American society. While for the Northern part, the Union was a much more benefic construction, for the South it did not represent the ultimate structure in terms of economic benefits because the North totally despised slavery and its institution.
Another element Lincoln used to engage support for the cause of the Union was the issue related to the power of the Constitution. In general terms, he argued that in itself the Constitution was stronger and older than the Union or the Confederation; hence the authority of the act should be upheld. Form this point-of-view Lincoln viewed the right of every state to decide on whether it is a free or a slave state to be guaranteed by the Fundamental law. This strategy was a motivational text as well as a political one. He tried to rally support for the war against the South, on the one hand; on the other hand, he tries to oppose the South's initiative to decide in a political manner over the slave and Free states, an element which would have given the former more authority in the Congress.
Abraham Lincoln was not a vivid supporter of the antislavery movement. Moreover, the Civil War in itself was not simply related to slavery. It was also a matter of political battle and interpretation from the two sides. One proof of this dissension was Lincoln's definition of liberty expressed during the Civil War, which could very well characterize the state of affairs: "We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself and the produce of his labor; while with others the same word may mean to do what they please with other men and the produce of other men's labor." The moral rupture between the two sides was thus evident in debates over the slavery issue. While the Northern democrats rarely stated their opinion on the moral character of slavery, trying to maintain an alliance of the Northwest with the South ("this alliance gave each wing of the party the prospect of membership in a majority coalition"), the Republicans in the North wholeheartedly condemned it as "a moral, a social, and a political wrong." Therefore, it can be said that the distinction was in terms political rather than of substance.
As a result of these discussions, the Emancipation Proclamation came as a success of the Lincoln strategy. The act in itself stated that "all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom." In effect, the act declared free the slaves and suggested that the Government would not intervene to go in the pursuit of those who would eventually rebel to gain their freedom.
It can be said that the Proclamation was used by Lincoln with different aims. One of the most important was suggested by the underlying meaning of the act, which could have been interpreted as offering a legitimate right of the slaves to ask, through every means available to them, for their right to be free. In this sense, he indirectly supported slaves to create rebellions in the South and in this way to decrease the power of the Confederation. At the same time, it enabled the Union to have a greater sense of legitimacy and support from the black population.
However, the main goal of the Republican was not to dissolve...
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin on February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. From these humble beginnings the first born son of Thomas, an uneducated farmer, and Nancy Hanks, Lincoln would grow to become the 16th President of the United States. In 1997 William Riding Jr. And Stuart B. McIver asked a group of 719 professors, elected officials, historians, attorneys, authors and other professionals to rate the presidents.
In 1837, Lincoln took highly controversial position that foreshadowed his future political path. He joined with five other legislators out of eighty-three to oppose a resolution condemning abolitionists. In 1838, he responded to the death of the Illinois abolitionist and newspaper editor, Elijah Parish Lovejoy, who was killed while defending his printing presses from a mob of pro-slavery citizens in Alton, Illinois. In a statesmanlike manner, Lincoln gave a cautious
Grant possessed in superb degree the ability to think of the war in overall terms, however his grand plan of operations that ended the war was at least partly Lincoln's in concept (Williams). Grant conformed his strategy to Lincoln's known ideas: "hit the Confederacy from all sides with pulverizing blows and make enemy armies, not cities, his main objective" (Williams). Grant submitted the broad outlines of his plan to
Thus, as a candidate for a particular region of the United States, regardless of its importance, he could promote the morality of slavery or its lack. However, as a major public figure, he did not have the political support or the democratic one to advocate the freedom of the slaves. Nor did he want to take that road. One of the most evident proofs was the fact that "Lincolnin
Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America What was the most important thing you learned about Abraham Lincoln from reading "Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America"? Abraham Lincoln played an important role in bringing to an end the civil war and initiating the stoppage of slavery in the United States. After its inauguration in 1861, Lincoln was determined to unite the northern and the southern states, which were at loggerheads over slavery and
Robert Lincoln also declares that after his father became President, "any great intimacy between us became impossible. I scarcely had even ten minutes of quiet talk with him during his Presidency on account of his ever-constant devotion to the business of being Commander-in-Chief" (Randall, 183). Not surprisingly, Abraham Lincoln possessed a deep love for his sons and perhaps saw himself as he was as a youth in Illinois, long before
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