Lincoln's Justification

424 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Abraham Lincoln's part in the Civil War

Lincoln's Justification

During the Civil War, Lincoln said he, "…never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence". Lincoln saw the Declaration of Independence, or more appropriate the Declaration of Liberty, as the underlying basis of American government. The value of liberty inadvertently convened on every principle contrived by the delegates that came to Philadelphia that hot day in May. Lincoln made this statement in direct response to southern succession. He was justifying forcibly returning the Southern states back to the union.

To understand one must establish a conceptual frame of reference. The Declaration of Independence is derived primarily on the social contract theory. The English philosopher, John Locke, believed that people have natural, God-given rights that are inalienable. He then formulated that there is a relationship between the people and the established ruler. The relationship entails that the people agree to be ruled and in return, the ruler provides protection of the peoples' God-given rights; however, when these rights are violated, the people then have a right to resist or remove rulers who violate this contract. This was the foundation of the Declaration of Independence. England, with its denial of the colonist God-given rights, was in direct violation of this American adopted principle; consequently, England gave justification for the American rebellion that directly followed the Declaration's approval.

For Lincoln, the Constitution than the social contract between the people and ruler written down and enumerated. From this standpoint, the Constitution then becomes a definition of what God-given rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence are; furthermore, it expresses the limits of the governing body to prevent such violations. Lincoln, basing his political thought on the Declaration of Independence, believed in upholding his part of the social contract, protecting the God-given rights of the people. And it is because of his beliefs in the firm beliefs in the Declaration; Lincoln would never perform an action that violated the Declaration's principles.

The South was unhappy at their current situation in the union and accordingly seceded from the union. Ironically, the principle that proposed to divide the nation stemmed from the very one that had caused its union. The civil war, similar to that of the revolution, was nothing more than a fight for independence. Because Lincoln formulated every political thought from the Declaration of Independence, the South could not justify secession. It could not secede because there were no liberties or God-given rights being violated by the government like had caused the Revolutionary War.

Show More
Related

  • Gettysburg Address versus Letter to His Son

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    Southern and Northern People had different ideas about the civil war. There were problems within their country and they wanted to fix them. They knew the country was created for the people and was run by the people. They wanted the nation to succeed, but one side wanted it to be free for all people no matter the race, while the southern wanted to keep slaves. With these complete opposites ideas of thinking the southern states decided their only option was to separate from the Union. They split and this left the country confused. Confused about what was in store for the nation they had grown to love. It was no longer clear what they future held for American and it would take a couple of years to get the country moving down the path that leads to the world we live in today.

    Read More

  • Differences Between the North and South that Led to the Civil War

    1460 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Southern and Northern states varied on many issues, which eventually led them to the Civil War. There were deep economic, social, and political differences between the North and the South. These differences stemmed from the interpretation of the United States Constitution on both sides. In the end, all of these disagreements about the rights of states led to the Civil War. There were reasons other than slavery for the South?s secession. The manifestations of division in America were many: utopian communities, conflicts over public space, backlash against immigrants, urban riots, black protest, and Indian resistance (Norton 234). America was a divided land in need reform with the South in the most need. The South relied heavily on agriculture, as opposed to the North, which was highly populated and an industrialized society. The South grew cotton, which was its main cash crop and many Southerners knew that heavy reliance on slave labor would hurt the South eventually, but their warnings were not heeded. The South was based on a totalitarian system.

    Read More

  • Abraham Lincoln: The Great Emancipation

    1764 Words  | 4 Pages

    In a speech that Lincoln gave prior to his presidency, we can see how ambiguous his stance on slavery truly was. This speech, known as the ‘House Divided’ speech, was given on the 16th of June, 1858, and outlined his beliefs regarding secession, but did not solidify the abolition of slavery as his main goal. Lincoln states that the nation “could not endure, permanently half slave and half free,” and that the slavery will either cease to exist, or will encompass all states lawfully (Lincoln). At this point in his life, Lincoln’s primary concern is clearly with the preservation of the nation.

    Read More

  • Thomas Jefferson Declaration Of Independence Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    1182 Words  | 3 Pages

    America’s Declaration of Independence has profoundly affected the foundation of the United States more than any other event or document in American history. The Declaration of Independence was and still is the basis for what the country is established on. July 4th of 1776, Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States was chosen to draft the Declaration of Independence. His purpose was to persuade the colonists of the thirteen colonies to break away from England. The document reports and emphasizes on the reasons as to why the colonists should declare their independence. Thomas Jefferson expresses that the way the people of the thirteen colonies are being treated unfairly is not the way they should be treated (Jefferson

    Read More

  • Gettysburg Address Rhetorical Analysis

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and a reason to fight in the Civil War. Before the address, the Civil War was based on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were instilled in the Declaration of Independence by the Founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states’ rights into a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon.

    Read More

  • The Secession of the South

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tensions between the North and South had grown steadily since the anti slavery movement in 1830. Several compromises between the North and South regarding slavery had been passed such as the Nebraska-Kansas and the Missouri act; but this did little to relieve the strain. The election of President Lincoln in 1861 proved to be the boiling point for the South, and secession followed. This eventually sparked the civil war; which was viewed differently by the North and the South. The Northern goal was to keep the Union intact while the Southern goal was to separate from the Union. Southern leaders gave convincing arguments to justify secession. Exploring documents from South Carolina’s secession ordinance and a speech from the Georgia assembly speech will explain how the Southern leaders justify the secession from the United States.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On The Confederate Flag

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Civil War was a battle between the northern states and the southern states. The southern states wanted to secede

    Read More

  • Causes of The American Civil War

    2128 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...om’s Cabin in 1852, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the Dred Scott Decision of 1857, John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859, and the outcome of the Presidential Election of 1860—created conditions where Southerners felt the need to secede from the United States (they felt that their “way of life” was being threatened), as well as created conditions where the Northerners decided to go to war against the Southern Confederacy in order to maintain the Union. It is not surprising, however, that the Civil War occurred; since the Industrial Revolution, the Industrial North had always been different than the Agricultural South. If each region paid more attention to resolving the issues that separated them, instead of trying to prove themselves right, they could have stopped the bloodiest battle in American history (even though this is using hindsight knowledge).

    Read More

  • Lincoln's First Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the years leading up to the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln uses the Declaration of Independence as a basis for many of his political arguments. However, when comparing the Declaration of Independence to Lincoln’s Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act at Peoria, his first debate with Senator Douglas, his Address at Cooper Institute, and his First Inaugural Address, various discrepancies between the principles of the founding fathers and Lincoln’s interpretation of these principles become apparent. These discrepancies show that Lincoln rejects or misinterprets the revolutionary principles of equality, state sovereignty, and revolution.

    Read More

  • Secession Dbq

    592 Words  | 2 Pages

    The South did not have had the right to secede because the souths legal justification is irrelevant because they have flaws in their ideology about how the states are taking away their freedom. I found in the Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union that one of their justifications for leaving the union is that their slaves should be sent back which makes it another person's responsibility for your own “property” without substantial proof. Another flaw I found in their argument in the Ordinance of Secession of South Carolina is that it says that since the states are taking away their freedom to slaves, they can fight for it when in actuality it is the people who are helping slaves escape, adding even more so to this wrong idea of secession. One last Flaw I found is that they are complaining that their rights are being infringed upon while in actuality they are taking the rights away from African-American slaves making the whole argument hypocritical.

    Read More

  • Jefferson's Definition Of Freedom In The Declaration Of Independence

    1797 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Declaration of Independence was written to the declaration proclaiming the independence of the colonies. It opens with the famous statement; “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and pursuit of Happiness.” (WP. Jefferson. 696) To hold truth and be self-evident is having “human equality and certain unalienable rights.” (Declaration) By having rights is not meant as having power, wishes or desires but to be “acknowledged and affirmed liberties inherent in human nature.”(Declaration) Thus, the Government has the ability to dismantle your rights if you disobey any laws. The notion that all men are created equal, was the biggest dispute. Douglass and later King used that statement to contradict the American government. Wherefore, the equality in the Declaration of Independent meant “whatever our differences, there exists a fundamental human identity, that no one is born to rule or be ruled.”(Declaration) Jefferson vision of freedom went beyond wanting dependents from the British. While writing the Declaration of Independence he had it in mind to put an end to slavery. When he presented the Declaration of Independence to delegators, it included a passage attacking slavery. “He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying then into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.” (Debate) The delegate’s from South Carolina and Georgia refused to sign it, therefore it was removed and replace with a more vague passes about King George’s incitement of “domestic insurrections amongst us.”(Debate) The removal

    Read More

  • The Declaration Of Independence And The Declaration Of Independence

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson, one of the authors, used Locke’s infamous phrase to serve as a profound statement on how life as American citizens would be fundamentally different compared to life as British colonists. It is Locke’s phrase that helped the Declaration truly stand out as an original, forward thinking document. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (Declaration,

    Read More

  • Abraham Lincoln's Argument Analysis

    555 Words  | 2 Pages

    Based on both of the readings, Abraham Lincoln has the more persuasive argument. He starts off by stating that the writing itself is very broad and therefore does not limit the Declaration to any one group of people, but rather everyone in the country as a whole. Even though Thomas Jefferson was for state independence, Douglas’ argument is not very concrete in the fact that allowing for states to choose whether or not they should be a slave or free state would start a war that Abraham Lincoln wanted to start.

    Read More

  • Lincoln's Morality

    1540 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Difference Between White and Wrong: A Suggestive Essay on Lincoln’s Use of the Term “Morality”

    Read More

  • Walt Whitman Literary Devices

    1100 Words  | 3 Pages

    The purpose of Lincoln’s speech was to dedicate a plot of land that would become Soldier’s National Cemetery to honor the fallen. However, the Civil War still raged and Lincoln realized that he also had to inspire the people to continue the fight. During his speech, Lincoln begins invoking the principles of human equality contained in the Declaration of Independence and connected the sacrifices of the Civil War with the desire for “a new birth of freedom,” as well as the all-important preservation of the Union created in 1776 and its ideal of self-government

    Read More

More about Lincoln's Justification

Open Document