And it will be appropriate for America to recognize next month the 200th anniversary of his birth.But, on the occasion of the inauguration of the first black president, there seems to be a general misconception about Lincoln. He did not enter the presidency breathing fire and pledging to abolish slavery, as much as people might like to believe that today. He became the "Great Emancipator" a few years later, when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
There was much concern in the South about a Lincoln presidency, but, when he took the oath of office and spoke to the people for the first time as president, he sought to reassure the citizens of the South that his overriding desire was to keep the nation intact.
In his first inaugural, Lincoln almost immediately referred to the "apprehension … among the people of the Southern states that by the accession of a Republican administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered."
He said there was no reason for this and cited his own speeches before being elected president as proof:
"I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."
Lincoln reminded his listeners that "[t]hose who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations and had never recanted them."
In fact, Lincoln went on to say, the Republicans included in their platform an "emphatic resolution," which he went on to recite:
"Resolved, 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 balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes."
The new president repeatedly affirmed his desire to keep the United States together as one nation."The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government and to collect the duties and imposts," he said, "but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere."
Today, Lincoln is remembered for "freeing the slaves," as he should be. But his own words show that, when he first became president, he wanted to keep the nation together — even if that meant an existence that was half-slave and half-free.
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