Question

why was Lincoln’s inaugural speech written. please summarize as much as you can i am doing a 3 page essay & would like a good amount of details

Answer 1

1. 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.

2.Lincoln's predecessor, James Buchanan, had expressed 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.

3. Lincoln's speech was an effort to answer this question. Lincoln's intention was that no statement of his specific policy toward the South should be made available before he had taken office.

4. Lincoln composed his address in the back room of his brother-in-law's store in his hometown of Springfield, Illinois, using four basic references:

a. Henry Clay's 1850 speech on compromise

b. Daniel Webster's reply to Hayne.

c. Andrew Jackson's proclamation against nullification.

d. The United States Constitution.

5. 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.

6. Lincoln's inaugural address touched on several topics: first, his pledge to

-Hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government, which was still in Federal hands.

-Second, his argument that the Union was undissolvable and thus that secession was impossible

-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.

7. Lincoln opened his speech by first indicating that he would not touch on "those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement." The remainder of the speech would address the concerns of Southerners, who were apprehensive that "by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered."

8. He went on to address several other points of particular interest at the time, such as

a. Slavery and Protection of slavery/ Slavery in the Territories

b. Legal status of the South/ Federal offices in the south

c. Secession and Use of Force

Lincoln concluded his speech with a plea for calm and cool deliberation in the face of mounting tension throughout the nation. He assured the rebellious states that the Federal government would never initiate any conflict

Modern writers and historians generally consider the speech to be a masterpiece and one of the finest presidential inaugural addresses, with the final lines having earned particularly lasting renown in American culture