...elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations, and had never recanted them. And, more than this, they placed in...according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to the balance of powers on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we...

...only nominated Abraham Lincoln as their presidential candidate but also passed a resolution declaring "that the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the...judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of powers on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends." That sounded like the...

...institutions. * id., p. 30. 4 The Fourth Resolution in the Republican Party platform of 1 860 declared That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the...to order and control its own domestic institutions [especially slavery] according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power...

...1860 did not contradict Lincoln's views in regard to the territories, but it stressed its support for "the right of each state to order and control its...domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively."6 Furthermore, in response to opponents' charges that they favored "African amalgamation...

...inclination to do so."49 This was the same course announced in the 1860 Republican platform, which read: That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the...judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of powers on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends; and we denounce the lawless...

...elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this, and many similar declarations, and had never recanted them. And more than this, they placed in...and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which 1 now read: Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the...

...of 186o directly addressed southern concerns, advocating "the maintenance inviolate of the rights of States, and especially the right of each state to order and control its own domestic institutions," while condemning any "lawless invasion" of a state or territory "as among the gravest of crimes." Republican...

...and Whigs, acknowledged the obligation to preserve "the rights of the States . . . inviolate . . . , and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions . . . exclusively, 'rights' essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance...

...compensated emancipation. In his 1861 inaugural address Lincoln had stressed the Republican acceptance of the right of each state "to order and control its own domestic institutions," and he reaffirmed that pledge whenever possible. Yet there were doubters in Kentucky from the start...

...the Union. He did not believe that as president he was constitutionally empowered to interfere with the "right of each State to order and control its...institutions according to its own judgment exclusively." But he did oppose any efforts to secede from the Union as equally unconstitutional. He urged caution...