...with all this scope for [of] precedent," Lincoln was keenly aware that he entered upon the same task "under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption...heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted." If we are to discern the purpose that Lincoln had when he addressed the American people on March 4,...

...be invoked? Abraham Lincoln defined the second tradition succinctly in his first inaugural address: "I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and...Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. . . . Continue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution, and the Union will...

...federal government created in 1787. In his first inaugural, in 1861, President Lincoln defined his stand: "I hold that in contemplation of universal law and...Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual." 122 The victory for the Union ended this issue at the point of a gun. The final theory of the nation...

...precipitated19 the most important restructuring in American constitutional history when he declared in 1861: "I hold that in contemplation of universal law, and...of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual."20 He did not say "the Supreme Court has held" or "I infer from the Constitution and/or...

...1861, his notions were far narrower: in his first inaugural address, 4 March 1861, Lincoln declared, "I hold that in contemplation of universal law, and...Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual." Thus he relegated the slavery question to a secondary (if not negligible) status (Lincoln III, 268)....

...their security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. "I hold that in contemplation of universal law and...Constitution, the union of these states is perpetual. It is safe to assert that no government ever had a provision in its organic law for its termination....

...Lincoln, in his own inauguration speech, on March 4, 1861, explained the current state of affairs: I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and...Constitution, the Union of these states is perpetual.... The power confided to me, will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property, and places belonging...

...sublimity was sounded by Lincoln on the eve of the Civil War. In his First Inaugural Address he declared: "I hold that, in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these states is perpetual."7 Presidents from Washington to Lincoln might not have easily agreed on the exact meaning...

...speech in which he pledged support for a constitutional amendment explicitly protecting slavery, he said that "in contemplation of universal law, and of the...Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual." 2" He cited no specific tenet of universal law but did offer three other reasons, one concerning the...

...focused on preserving the Union as a moral cause and resolving everv issue that endangered that effort. "I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and...Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. . . . Continue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution, and the Union will...