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Isaac Sotomayor
Prof. Johnston
History 7A #32194
7 June 2018
Document Interpretation 6: Popular Sovereignty, Sherman's March to the Sea

March 4, 1861 marks the day of Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address. Abraham

Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States in 1860. This first address is required

of the president before he takes office, as prescribed by the Constitution of the United States.

Lincoln took office during a period where the union was in the process of coming undone, so his

address expressed his will to maintain unity and abolish slavery. Lincoln calls to the nature of the

Union, whether it be “a government proper” or “an association of States”. Looking to the

Constitution of the United States, Lincoln underlines one such instance of unclarity in which

fugitive slaves are to be returned to their owners. “No person held to service or labor in one

State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or

regulation therein be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of

the party to whom such service or labor may be due”. This clause of the Constitution is unclear

as to whether the states have authority or if it pertains to the national scale. Lincoln poses the

question as per a contract, that if the Union is not a proper government and just an association of

States, then can it be undone by any less than all parties involved when it was formed? This

argument is clearly meant to directly go against one of the main arguments that Southern states

wishing to secede would have brought against the North. Then Lincoln takes the approach of the

Union as a government by bringing to attention that the Union is “much older than the

Constitution”. The Union was formed through the Articles of Association in 1774. Then, through

the Declaration of Independence in 1776, it matured. The Articles of Confederation of 1778

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would further mature the Union, which would lead to the Constitution of 1787 under the goal of

“forming a more perfect Union”. Lincoln argues that if the Constitution would make it possible

for one or “by part solely of the states”, that the Union is less perfect than before the Constitution

due to losing “the vital element of perpetuity”. Lincoln takes it upon himself to oversee that the

Constitution grants federal authority to enforce its laws upon the states.

“One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the

other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended.” Lincoln acknowledges that the dispute

between the North and the South is indeed a great one, but he believes that even though

“husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each

other”, that a country can not divorce itself. “Physically speaking, we can not separate”. The

appeal to reason is what Lincoln is attempting through his address, as he does not wish for the

Union to fight amongst itself. Lincoln closes his address to his “dissatisfied fellow-countrymen”,

that although the threat of Civil War is a “momentous issue”, that there will be no need to fear

being assailed by the government unless they themselves are the aggressors. I see this as

Lincoln’s final plea to reason with a slight threat, as he will protect the Union even if it means

going to war.