Abraham Lincoln: “You are authorized to do whatever you may deem expedient to open for use in the shortest possible time all military…”

I am considering, and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action will be proper.

If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.

The question is, will it be wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to reject and disperse it?

I believe that it is not only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or even considering whether these States have ever been out of the Union, than with it.