Abraham Lincoln: “I hope that upon your return to your homes you will find your friends and loved ones well and happy.”

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

Important principles may and must be inflexible.

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.