Download Lincoln`s Second Inaugural Address

[NB] Cornell Notes on Lincoln
What were the events that led up to Lincoln’s
Second Inaugural Address?
Key Points:
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Lincoln’s First Election (1860)
Cause of the Civil War
Lincoln’s Views of Slavery
Formation of the Confederacy
The Horrors of War
Lincoln’s Second Election (1864)
Lincoln’s Hopes for the Future
Summary:
Notes:
Lincoln Takes Office for his First Term
• States had already started “ceding” during President
Buchannan’s administration.
• By the time Lincoln was inaugurated for the first time
in March of 1861, seven states had banned together
to form the “Confederacy.”
• Although the Democratic South was upset that
Lincoln, a Republican, had been elected, eight slave
states refused to join the Confederacy. They didn’t
want war.
Was the Civil War Really Caused by
Slavery?
Lincoln states in his address that slavery was the central issue of the Civil
War. Is that true?
• Yes and no.
• Lincoln was morally opposed to slavery, and so were a lot of other
people. However, the Civil War had many causes, some of which were
related to slavery.
• Power struggle between the industrial North and the agricultural
South.
• Majority of population in the North, and the South often felt that it
was underrepresented in Congress.
• The question of slavery and Westward expansion.
• Different economic bases. If slavery is abolished, what happens to the
Southern economy?
Whether or not Lincoln’s statement was true, why would he make this
claim in his speech?
Was Lincoln Himself Anti-Slavery?
• Yes, but not in the way you may have thought.
• Lincoln supported the Republican Platform in his political and
personal life. This doctrine was to stop the spread of slavery into
Western territories in hopes that it would die out eventually.
• Lincoln even supported a plan for the government to pay slave
owners to set their slaves free (“Compensated Emancipation).
• However, Lincoln did not consider himself an abolitionist,
because he didn’t believe in trying to precipitate an abrupt end
to slavers. This would cause war.
• Lincoln didn’t propose an immediate end to slavery until that
goal became part of the Republican platform in connection with
the proposal of the 13th Amendment in 1864 (his second
election).
The War Begins . . .
• Lincoln was determined not to be the aggressor in the start
of the impending war, and both sides attempted peaceful
negotiations.
• Hostilities and “the start of the Civil War” came a month
after Lincoln’s inauguration. The Confederacy took a Union
stronghold, Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
• Lincoln called on state militias to try to take the Fort back
from the Confederacy. At that point, four more states
joined the Confederacy, and the “War Between the States”
started.
Civil War Casualties
• 620,000 men were killed directly in battle.
That was 2% of the population.
• This statistic does not count those who died in
captivity (roughly as many men who died
TOTAL in the Vietnam Conflict) and those who
died of disease.
• http://www.civilwar.org/education/
civil-war-casualties.html
The Tables Turn . . .
• The North (or Union) spent the majority of the War losing.
This was surprising to everyone, since the North had every
advantage.
• The first Union victory in the Civil War was not until
February 1862, when the Union captured Forts Henry and
Donelson.
• Other Union victories, like the Battles of Vicksburg and
Gettysburg, followed.
Lincoln's 2nd Election in 1864 . . .
• These recent wins caused Lincoln, who was an
exceptionally unpopular president, to be
reelected in 1864.
• By the second election, three years after the
war had started, everyone was sick of war. It
had been longer and more devastating to
both sides than anyone had imagined.
• So, in his “Second Inaugural Address” . . .
Lincoln’s Second
Inaugural Address
President Abraham Lincoln delivers his address
before the Capitol building
• March 4, 1865
• Given as the North
approached victory in
the Civil War
• Summed up
Lincoln’s beliefs
about how to reunite
the country
• Did not claim victory
or lay blame
Did Lincoln want revenge on the
South?
Lincoln’s “Ten-Percent Plan”
• Released in December 1863
• “Executive Reconstruction”
• Would pardon most
former Confederates
• When 10% of the number of
voters listed in the 1860
voters roles signed loyalty
oaths, the state could form a
new government
• Used to return areas such as
Louisiana back to the Union
Was Lincoln Really as Anti-Slavery
as People Today Think He Was?
The Wade-Davis Bill
• Proposed by two members of
Congress.
• Passed Congress in 1864
• Required more than
half of voters to sign loyalty oath
• Required second oath for voting
eligibility
• New constitution had to repeal
secession and abolish slavery
• Bill pocket-vetoed
by Lincoln. He favored a more
lenient Ten-Percent Plan.