Comparing the Inaugural Addresses of Abraham Lincoln Jefferson

Comparing the Inaugural Addresses of Abraham Lincoln & Jefferson Davis Going Separate Ways

Inaugural Address of Jefferson Davis February 18, 1861

Lincoln’s Lincoln First Inaugural Address March 4, 1861

Lincoln’s Lincoln First Inaugural Address Equality • “I have no purpose, purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists” 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. ” 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. ” entitled • • “It is joyous in the midst of perilous times to look around upon a people united in heart, 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 Lincoln First Inaugural Address Union • “ The union of these states if perpetual” 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. ” dispute • “Physically speaking we cannot separate We cannot remove our respective sections from each other. ”

Lincoln’s Lincoln 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” choice and that “…a reunion with the States from which we have separated is neither practicable nor desirable. ” desirable

Lincoln’s Lincoln First Inaugural Address Government • “In your hands, hands my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. ” 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. ”