What argument did President Abraham Lincoln use against the secession of the Southern state?

1 Answer
Feb 11, 2018

He had five main points, all of which are not based on Law, but his preferences.

Explanation:

The secessionists claimed that according to the Constitution every state had the right to leave the Union. Lincoln claimed that they did not have that right. He opposed secession for these reasons:

  1. Physically the states cannot separate.

  2. Secession is unlawful.

  3. A government that allows secession will disintegrate into anarchy.

  4. That Americans are not enemies, but friends.

  5. Secession would destroy the world's only existing democracy, and prove for all time, to future Americans and to the world, that a government of the people cannot survive.
    https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/secessiontableofcontents.htm