First Inaugural Address

Summary

Abraham Lincoln took the oath on 4 March 1861 on the East Portico of a Capitol whose new dome was still unfinished. Seven states of the lower South had declared secession and formed the Confederate States of America; Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor was still held by a small federal garrison. Chief Justice Roger Taney, author of the Dred Scott opinion, administered the oath. The address is a lawyer's argument followed by a plea. Lincoln begins by trying to calm the South. Quoting his own earlier speeches, he repeats: "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists." He promises to enforce the fugitive slave clause and says he takes the oath "with no mental reservations." The middle of the address argues that "the Union of these States is perpetual." The Union is older than the Constitution, formed in 1774, matured in 1776 and 1778, and made "more perfect" in 1787; a contract cannot be lawfully unmade by one party alone. "Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy," since a minority that secedes today must face secession from its own minority tomorrow. Lincoln will hold federal property and collect duties but promises no invasion: "The Government will not assail you." He names the real dispute plainly: one section thinks slavery right and to be extended, the other thinks it wrong and to be restricted. And "Physically speaking, we can not separate." The close turns from argument to appeal. "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war." He ends: "We are not enemies, but friends," trusting that the "mystic chords of memory" will yet be touched "by the better angels of our nature."

Top Lessons

• Law before force

  Lincoln argues that the Union is perpetual in law before he says anything about force, and then limits force to holding federal property and collecting duties. The order matters: power is justified by law and restrained by it.

• Secession as anarchy

  "Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy." Lincoln's point is that a minority unwilling to accept constitutional majority decisions has no principle to stop its own subdivision. Students can trace the logic and test it against the Confederate claim to self-government.

• The appeal to memory

  After the argument, Lincoln turns to the "mystic chords of memory" stretching from battlefield and patriot grave to every hearthstone. He gives up none of his legal position; he asks hearers to remember what they share before they act.

Verified Quotes

Medical Lens

Presidential inaugurals concern constitutional politics and national crisis; they have no medical content for this library's lens.