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Comparing the Inaugural Addresses of
Abraham Lincoln & Jefferson Davis
Going Separate Ways
Inaugural Address of Jefferson Davis
February 18, 1861
Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
March 4, 1861
Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
Equality
• “I have no purpose,
directly or indirectly
to interfere with the
institution of slavery
in the States where
it exists”
Inaugural Address of Jefferson Davis
Liberty/Equality
•
“…They (the Confederate States) formed
a new alliance, but within each State its
government has remained; so that the
rights of person and property have
not been disturbed.”
•
• “Through many years of controversy
with our late associates of the Northern
States, we have vainly endeavored to
secure tranquility and obtain respect
for the rights to which we were
entitled.”
•
• “It is joyous in the midst of perilous
times to look around upon a people
united in heart, where one purpose of
high resolve animates and actuates the
whole; where the sacrifices to be made
are not weighed in the balance against
honor and right and liberty and equality.”
Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
Union
• “ The union of these states
if perpetual” (permanent)
• “One section of the country
believes that slavery is
right and ought to be
extended, while the other
believes it is wrong and
ought not to be extended.
This is the only substantial
dispute.”
• “Physically speaking we
cannot separate. We
cannot remove our
respective sections from
each other.”
Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
Union
• “We are not
enemies, but
friends. We
must not be
enemies.”
• “Though
passion may
have strained,
it must not
break our
bonds of
affection.”
Inaugural Address of Jefferson Davis
Union
• Davis explains that
breaking from the
Union was
“a necessity, not a
choice” and that “…a
reunion with the States
from which we have
separated is neither
practicable nor
desirable.”
Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
Government
• “In your hands, my
dissatisfied fellow
countrymen, and
not in mine, is the
momentous issue
of civil war.”
• “The government
will not assail you.
You can have no
conflict, without
being yourselves
the aggressors
Inaugural Address of Jefferson Davis
Government
•
“. . . the American idea that
governments rest on the
consent of the governed, and
that it is the right of the people
to alter or abolish them at will
whenever they become
destructive of the ends for which
they were established.”
•
“As a consequence of our new
condition and relations, and with
a vicar to meet anticipated wants,
it will be necessary to provide
for the speedy and efficient
organization of branches of the
Executive department having
special charge of foreign [trade],
finance, military affairs, and the
postal service.”