Abraham Lincoln: “I am struggling to maintain government, not to overthrow 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.

I do the very best I know how--the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end.

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

Important principles may and must be inflexible.