It presents to the whole family of man the question whether a constitutional republic or democracy--a government of the people by the same people--can or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against its own domestic foes.
From his first message to Congress at the start of the Civil War, Lincoln frames the conflict as a test of whether a republic can survive internal threats.
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More from Abraham Lincoln
I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves, it should be first those who desire it for themselves, and secondly those who desire it for others.
Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.
To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan, is our duty.
As a general rule I abstain from reading the reports of attacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I cannot properly offer an answer.
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