Abraham Lincoln: “I hereby enjoin upon all district attorneys, marshals, and officers of the revenue and of the military and naval forces…”

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

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.

Important principles may and must be inflexible.

Unlike a case of war between independent nations, there is no organized organ for us to treat with,--no one man has authority to give up the rebellion for any other man.