...before, the Constitution having lost the vital element of perpetuity. It follows, from these views, that no State, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully...insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances. I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken, and to...

...were not conciliatory. His theory of the Union did not allow secession and "resolves and ord1nances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of...United States, are insurrectionary or revolutionary." Lincoln meant to "hold, occupy, and possess" federal properties. What did such words mean for Indian...

...restoration plan. It gave substance to a point he made in his first inaugural address when he said, "no state upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union." On July 4, 1861, in a special message to Congress he reaffirmed this guiding principle, stating that...

...Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin was also sworn in. In his inaugural address, Lincoln reminded the country that, "... no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully...insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances." Furthermore, as the leader of the country he had a solemn oath to "preserve, protect, and defend it."...

...secession was a "most valuable, a most sacred right" of each state within the Union and proclaimed that "no state upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union."38 Later, during the war, however, Lincoln again recognized the right of forty-nine counties...

...of Iowa Press, 1994), 30-47. 29. In Lincoln's "First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861," one reads: No State, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union . . . resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and . . . acts of violence, within any...

...where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.... No state, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union.... I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union...

...douht. His inaugural address was earnest and direct. He said, "The union of these States is perpetual. No State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union. I shall take care that the laws of the Union are faithfully executed in all the States." It was, in...

...development in human freedom and selfgovernment. On this understanding of the country's reason for being, Lincoln declared that "no State, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union."29 Lincoln's position was not simply that sound principles of government do not allow the disintegration...

...about its "ultimate extinction." His central concern, as emphasized in the address, was to establish that "no State, upon its own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union." Political realities, of course, played a large role in Lincoln's public stance on slavery. He knew...