Original Photographic Print of Lincoln's Inauguration, 1861
date: label: date made
content: 1861
label: associated date
content: 1861 03
name: label: associated person
content: Lincoln, Abraham
notes: label: Description
content: On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln took the presidential oath of office. No president, before or after, entered the office with the nation in such peril. Seven Southern states rejected the results of the presidential election and formed the Confederate States of America. Four more states soon joined them.
label: Description
content: Fear of violence hung in the air. Just two weeks earlier Jefferson Davis had taken the oath of office as president of the Confederate States of America. Soldiers blocked off the cross streets and sharpshooters manned the roofs along Pennsylvania Avenue.
label: Description
content: The unfinished Capitol dome loomed in the background as if to symbolize the uncertain state of the nation.
label: Description
content: Lincoln began his inaugural address by appealing to Southern secessionists. He promised to defend states rights and protect slavery where it existed. But he made it clear that he would defend the Constitution and the Union. He ended his speech with a plea to find common ground. To some Northerners, his remarks seemed to be too conciliatory, but to many people in the South, they sounded like a declaration of war.
label: Description
content: Gift of Capt. Montgomery Meigs, 1892
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: occurred
content: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
topic: label: depicted
content: Inauguration
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, Campaign Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: General Montgomery C. Meigs
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1996.0090.0135
label: accession number
content: 1996.0090
label: catalog number
content: 1996.0090.135
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Photograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: black; white (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: image: 13 in x 13 in; 33.02 cm x 33.02 cm
label: Measurements
content: mat: 20 in x 20 in; 50.8 cm x 50.8 cm