Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address was delivered on Monday, March 4, 1861, as part of his taking of the oath of office for his first term as the sixteenth president of the United States. The speech, delivered at the United States Capitol, was primarily addressed to the people of the South and was intended to succinctly state Lincoln's intended policies and desires toward that section, where seven states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.
Written in a spirit of reconciliation toward the seceded states, Lincoln's inaugural address touched on several topics: first, a pledge to "hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government"—including Fort Sumter, which was still in federal hands; second, a statement that the Union would not interfere with slavery where it existed; and third, a promise that while he would never be the first to attack, any use of arms against the United States would be regarded as rebellion and met with force. The inauguration took place on the eve of the American Civil War, which began soon after with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12.
Lincoln denounced secession as anarchy and said that majority rule had to be balanced by constitutional restraints in the American system of republicanism: A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily, with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people."
Desperately wishing to avoid a civil war, Lincoln ended with this plea:
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
Background
Lincoln was chosen to be the Republican candidate in the 1860 presidential election, which he won on November 6 with 180 electoral votes. Between this time and his inauguration on March 4, seven Deep South cotton states—South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas—would secede from the Union. Lincoln's predecessor, James Buchanan, had deplored secession as illegal, but had insisted that the federal government could do nothing to stop it. The entire nation, together with several interested foreign powers, awaited the President-elect's words on what exactly his policy toward the new Confederacy would be.
Lincoln's motivation
Lincoln's speech was an effort to answer this question, as well as an attempt to reach out to what he called his "dissatisfied fellow-countrymen" in an effort to avoid the coming conflict. He had held to a strict policy of silence during the months leading up to his inauguration, carefully avoiding making any statements that could be misconstrued by either North or South, prior to becoming the legal leader of the nation. Lincoln's intention was that no statement of his specific policy toward the South should be made available before he had taken office. Those privy to the speech's possible contents were sworn to silence, and Lincoln's draft was kept locked in the safe of the Illinois State Journal newspaper.
Lincoln composed his address in the back room of his brother-in-law's store in his hometown of Springfield, Illinois, using four basic references: Henry Clay's 1850 speech on compromise, Daniel Webster's reply to Hayne, Andrew Jackson's proclamation against nullification, and the United States Constitution.
Edits from Seward
Lincoln's soon-to-be Secretary of State, William Seward, later made suggestions that softened the original tone somewhat, and contributed to the speech's famous closing. Lincoln's speech had originally ended with the sentence, "With you, and not with me, is the solemn question of 'Shall it be peace or a sword?'" Seward wrote that Lincoln should end his speech with "Some words of affection — some of calm and cheerful confidence," both to calm fears in the east, and to "remove prejudice and passion in the South." Offering a concrete suggestion, Seward proposed this final paragraph: