When war broke out, no one was surprised, especially because it was soon after Abraham Lincoln being inaugurated President and the subsequent mass succession of States from the Union. It was only a month after his inauguration that Fort Sumter was bombarded and the war began. Lincoln is apportioned blame for the start of the war yet his most influential tool were his speeches .These were some of his most powerful and interesting contributions to the outbreak of war.
Lincoln was apposed to slavery as he believed it was detrimental to the political stability of America as it divided the country too much. He wanted unity, as unity was power and the constitutional values of equality and liberty were not supported without it. Also he was distressed by the issue of squatter sovereignty and Westward expansion which involved the creation of new slave states. This angered the South immensely who believed all of these issues should be left to them and the North should not be interfering.
English: Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President ...
A political cartoon of Andrew Johnson and Abraham ...
Abraham Lincoln, three-quarter length portrait, se...He was causing problems as he was out of his domain, yet in many ways doing his duty for his country. This difference in perception of whether Lincoln was trying to remove the issues such as slavery that were dividing the country for a good reason, or that he was just interfering and being dominant, lead the two sides to separate further. The Confederacy was strengthened by the hatred of Lincoln and the Hatred of the South was fueled by a worship of a Union icon, "Honest Abe".
It is strange that a man deemed "moderate" in his views against the South by his own Republican party had become the enemy of the Confederacy. The truth is Abraham Lincoln was not a black rights activist, nor determined to invade and overthrow...