With a Republican president, Southerners are afraid that their "peace and personal security" will be endangered. Lincoln assures them that he has no right or inclination to interfere with slavery where it exists. The state's have rights and an invasion would violate those rights. Lincoln promises to uphold the Constitution. He discusses the fugitive slave situation briefly. The union is perpetual and is older than the Constitution. If one state leaves, the union is less perfect than the Constitution. Federal laws must be followed in all states and secession is considered insurrection or revolution. On issues not explicitly solved in the Constitution, the majority and the minority have to cooperate. "The central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy." Slavery is the major issue between the sections, and the sections cannot physically separate themselves. The government belongs to the people in it, and the people have a right to amend it. The sections should not be enemies, but friends.
photo- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Abraham_lincoln_inauguration_1861.jpg
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