“I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken; and to the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States.”
Abraham Lincoln
First Inaugural Address (Primary source)
Abraham Lincoln delivered his First Inaugural Address as the 16th president of the United States on March 4, 1861, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., at a moment when seven Southern states had already declared secession from the Union.
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“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, that a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary sourceMore quotes by Abraham Lincoln →
“If you have the ability, you have the obligation.”
— A.P. Møller Disputed“Life wastes itself while we are preparing to live.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“No loss should hit us which can be avoided with constant care.”
— A.P. Møller Primary source“I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary sourcePolitics America American Civil War