Lincoln starts out his speech by telling the people that he does not wish to waste their time by talking about issues that nobody cares about; instead he says he will talk about things of excitement. The south was nervous because Lincoln was a Republican, but he said that they should not worry and that they had no reason to have apprehension. Lincoln had absolutely no plans to interfere with slavery in America. He considered it a crime to violate states rights, and claimed that he would never do so. He wanted to keep the country as a whole, united. Lincoln intended to keep the Fugitive Slave Act in place and multiple other laws that would protect Americans' rights. Lincoln stated that his larger main objective was to keep the country together as a Union. He believed that secession from the Union was unconstitutional. Secession was not written into the constitution, so Lincoln says that these events were unprecedented and he did not really know exactly what to do. The constitution also says nothing about either allowing or prohibiting slavery. Lincoln once again puts emphasis on preserving the union and keeping it whole. In order to keep the prosperity that America has worked ever so hard for, then a civil war must be avoided.
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