Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-03-04
Photographed Specially for the BtateSman.l VI
rg INAUGURAL ADDRESS
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PRESIDENT LINCOLN

> States, to be taken by the President, before b
Il enters on the execution Of his Office.
do not consider IL necessary at present 10
me to discuss those matters Oh administratio
about which there is no special anxiety or OK
citement.
t. Apprehension seems to exist. among the pee
. Pile Of the Southern States, that by the acces
SION of: Republican Administration, their prop
erty, and their peace and personal security ar
to be endangered, but there has never been an
reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed
the most ample evidence to the contrary has oil
the while existed, and been open to their inspec'
tion. tits foundin nearly all the epublishedepeech
es ofhim who now addresses you. DO but quot
from one of those speeches, when declare, thai
l have no purpose, directly or Indirectly, to ln-
terfere with the institution of slavery In the
States where it exists. believe have no law
full right to do 80, and have no inclination to
do 90. Those who nominated and elected me
did 30 with full knowledge that had made this
and many similar declarations, and had never
recanted them, and more than this, they placed
In the platform for my acceptance, as law to
themselves and to me, in the clear aud emphatic
resolution which Inow read:
Resolped, That the maintenance inviolate OF
the rights of the States, and especially the
right OF each State to order and control its own
domestic institutions, according to Its own
| judgment exclusively, is essential to that Dal-
ance of power on which the perfection and en-
durance of our political fabric depend; and we
denounce the lawless invasion by an armed
force, of the government OF any State or Ter.
ritory, no matter under what pretext, as among
the gravest Of crimes"
now reiterate these sentiments, and In doing
80, only prees upon the public attention the most
conclusive evidence Of which the case Is sus'
ceptible, that the property, peace and security
Of no section are to be In any wise endangered,
by the now incoming Administration. add,
too, that all the protection which, consistently
with the Constitution end the laws, can be Civ.
en-, will be cheerfully given, to all the States,
when lawfully demanded, ip whatever case, as
cheerfully to one section as another.
As there ia much controversy about the de.
livery of fugitives from service or labor, the
clause now read Is as plainly written in the
Constitution, as any other of It's provisions;
"No person held to service or labor In one State
under the laws thereof, escaping into anoth-
er, shall, in consequence OF any law or regula.
tion therein, be discharged from such service or
labor, but shall be delivered up on claim Of the
party to whom such service or labor may be
DUE"
It is scarcely questioned that this provision
leasing of what we call fugitive slaves, aud the
intention of the law giver Is the law.
All members of Congress swear their support
to the whole Constitution; to this provision as
much as to any other. To the proposition then
that slaves whose cases come within the terms
Of this clause shall be delivered up, their
oaths are unanimous. Now If they would make
the effort In good temper, could they not with
nearly equal unanimity, frame and pasS q law by
means of which to keep good that unanimous
oath?
There is some difference of opinion whether
this claim should be enforced BY National or
State authority, but surely that difference Is not
a very material one. If the slave 10 TO be sur
rendered, il can be Of little consequence TO him
or to others by which authority it Is done; and
should any one, in any case, be content that
his oath shall be unkept, on merely unsubstan.
tial controversy, as to how 1t shsll ke kept
Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not
ali the safeguards of liberty known In civilized
and humane jurisprudence TO be introduced, 80
that q freeman may not in any case be surren-
dered as slave; and might 1t not be we'll at the
same time, to provide by law for the enforce
ment of that clause in the Constitution which
guarantees that the citizens of each State shall
be entitled to all the privileges and immuui.
ties of citizens in the several States.
take the official oath to-day with no mental
reservation, and with no purpose to construe
the Constitution or laws, by any hypercritical
rules, and while do not choose now to speci.
fy particular acts Of Congress as proper to
be enforced, do suggest that 1t will be much
safer for all, both in official and private sta
tions, to conform to and abide by oil these acts,
which stand unrepesled, than to violate any Of
them,, trusting to find impunity in having them
held to be unconstitutional. ..s
1t is seventy-two years since the first insug-
uration of President under our National Con.
stitution. During that period, fifteen different
and greatly distinguished citizens have in sue
cession administered the executive branch of
the Government. They have conducted 1t thro'
many perils, and generally with great success.
Yet, with all this scope for precedent, now
enter upon the same task, for the brief constiu.
tional term OF four years, under great and pc
culiar difficulty. Disruption of the Federal
Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formi-
dably attempted. .
l hold that In contemplation of universal
law, and of the Constitution, the Union of
these States Is perpetual. Perpetuity is i'm
piled, If not expressed, in the fundamental law
of all national Governments. II Is safe to as
sert that no Government proper ever had pro.
vision in its organic law Tor Its own termina-
ton. Continue to execute all the express pro-
visions of our National Constitution. and the
Union will endure for ever; 1t being impossible
to destroy it, except by some action not provi-I
ded for in the instrument itself.
Again, If the United States bs not govern
ment proper, but an association of States In the
nature of contract, merely, can it as q contract
be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties
who made II? One party to an contract may
violate it, break 1t, so to speak, but does it
not require all to lawfully rescind III
Descending from these general principles,
we find the proposition that in legal contem-
plation the Union 10 perpetual. Confirmed by
the history Of the Union itself, the Union Is much
older than the Constitution. II was formed, In
fact, by the, Articles of fAssociation, in l774. It
was maturedl and continued by the Declaration
of Independence, In l776. It was further ma
tured, and the faith of all the then thirteen
States expressly plighted and engaged. that 1t
should be perpetual by the Articles of Confed-
GRAFTON, in ITS; and finally, in 1857, one of the
declared objects fer ordaining and establishing
the Constitution was to form more perfect
Union by all or by a part only Of the States.
Is 1t possible the Union Is less than before the
Constitution, having lost the vital element Of
perpetuity2 II follows from these views that no
State upon its own mere motion can lawfully
get out Of the Union; that resolves and ordi-
nances to that effect are legally void; and that
acts Of violence within any State or States
against the authority of the United States are
insurrectionsry or revolutionary, according to
1 circumstances r,3ts I'll
i therefore consider that in view Of the Con-
stitution and laws the Union 10 unhroken, and
to the extent of my ability shall take care, az
; the Constitution itself expressly enjoius on me
/ that the laws of the Union be faithfully execu-