LAD #19

 



President Lincoln's Second Inaugual Address reiterated his previous statements concerning unification. The South had chosen to secede and pursued military action in order to protect its interests. The noble North had accepted military aggression as the necessary evil needed to preserve the Union. War would have to precede peace. The states needed to reunite, according to Lincoln, and all individuals involved in the conflict were American. Bearing this in mind, Lincoln attempted to rally the battered North around a common cause and urged his constituents to perservere and support the war effort. He did this by adding a religious element to the war. Lincoln declared that God allowed for the violent, domestic conflict because it served as reparation for the offense of slavery. The issue of slavery would be resolved in His eyes by the Civil War and should be continued until He was satisfied. It is also important to note that Lincoln did not address the states' rights issues that had contributed to the start of the Civil War. The cause of the war, as cited by Lincoln in this address, stemmed from issues over slavery. The Government had wished only to stop the limit expansion of the practice, while the South had wished to spread the instituion across the nation.