600 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



since the commencement of the troubles. This public 

 property has been long left without garrisons and 

 troops for its protection, because no person doubted its 

 security under the flag of the country in any State of 

 the Union. Besides, our small army has scarcely been 

 sufficient to guard our remote frontiers against Indian 

 incursions. The seizure of this property, from all ap- 

 pearances, has been purely aggressive, and not in re- 

 sistance to any attempt to coerce a State or States to 

 remain in the Union. 



At tne beginning of these unhappy troubles I deter- 

 mined that no act of mine should increase the excite- 

 ment in either section of the country. If the political 

 conflict were to end in a civil war it was my deter- 

 mined purpose not to commence it, nor even to furnish 

 an excuse for it by any act of this Government. My 

 opinion remains unchanged, that justice as well as 

 sound policy require us still to seek a peaceful solution 

 of the questions at issue between the North and the 

 South. Entertaining this conviction, I refrained even 

 from sending reenforcements to Major Anderson, who 

 commanded the forts in Charleston harbor, until an 

 absolute necessity for doing so should make itself ap- 

 parent, lest it might unjustly be regarded as a menace 

 of military coercion, and thus furnish, if not a provo- 

 cation, at least a pretext for an outbreak on the part 

 of South Carolina. No necessity for these ree'nforce- 

 ments seemed to exist. I was assured by distinguish- 

 ed and upright gentlemen of South Carolina that no 

 attack upon Alajor Anderson was intended, but that, on 

 the contrary, it was the desire of the State authorities, as 

 much as it was my own, to avoid the fatal consequences 

 which must eventually follow a military collision. 



And here I deem it proper to submit for your infor- 

 mation the copies of a communication dated 28th De- 

 cember, 1860, addressed to me by K. W. Barnwell, 

 J. H. Adams, and James L. Orr, " Commissioners" from 

 South Carolina, with the accompanying documents, 

 and copies of my ansAver thereto, dated 31st December. 



In further explanation of Major Anderson's removal 

 from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, it is proper to 

 state that, after my answer to the South Carolina Com- 

 missioners, the War Department received a letter 

 from that gallant officer dated on the 27th December, 

 1860, the day after this movement, from which the fol- 

 lowing is an extract : 



" I will add, as my opinion, that many things con- 

 vinced me that the authorities of the State designed to 

 proceed to a hostile act." (Evidently referring to the 

 orders dated the llth December, of the late Secretary 

 of War.) " Under this impression I could not hesitate 

 that it was my solemn duty to move my command from 

 a fort which we could not probably have held longer 

 than forty-eight or sixty hours to this one, where my 

 power of resistance is increased to a very great degree. 



It will be recollected that the concluding part of, 

 these orders was in the following terms : 



" The smallness of your force will not permit you, 

 perhaps, to occupy more than one of the three forts, 

 but an attack on, or an attempt to take possession of, 

 either one of them will be regarded as an act of hostil- 

 ity, and you may then put your command into either 

 of them which you may deem most proper, to increase 

 its power of resistance. You are also authorized to 

 take similar defensive steps whenever you have tan- 

 gible evidence of a design to proceed to a hostile act." 



It is said that serious apprehensions are to some 

 extent entertained, in which I do not share, that the 

 peace of this District may be disturbed before the 4th 

 of March next. In any event, it will be my duty to 

 preserve it, and this duty shall be performed. 



In conclusion, it may be permitted to me to remark 

 that I have often warned my countrymen of the dan- 

 gers which now surround us. This may be the last 

 time I shall refer to the subject officially. I feel that 

 my duty has been faithfully, though it may be imper- 

 fectly, performed ; and, whatever the result may be, I 

 shall carry to my grave the consciousness that I at 

 least meant well for mv country. 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



WASHINGTON, January 8, 1861. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS of Abraham, Lincoln, on 

 taking the Oath of Office as President of the 

 United States, March 4, 1861. 



Fellow-Citizens of the United States : 



In compliance with a custom as old as the Govern- 

 ment itself, I appear before you to address you briefly, 

 and to take in your presence the oath prescribed by 

 the Constitution of the United States to be taken by 

 the President " before he enters on the execution of 

 his office." 



I do not consider it necessary at present for me to 

 discuss those matters of administration about which 

 there is no special anxiety or excitement. 



Apprehension seems to exist among the people of 

 the Southern States that by the accession of a Repub- 

 lican Administration their property and their peace 

 and personal security are to be endangered. There 

 has never been any reasonable cause for such appre- 

 hension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the con- 

 trary has all the while existed and been open to their 

 inspection. It is found in nearly all the published 

 speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but 

 quote from one of those speeches when I declare that 

 " I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to inter- 

 fere with the institution of slavery in the States where 

 it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and 

 I have no inclination to do so." Those who nominated 

 and elected me did so with foil knowledge that I 

 had made this and many similar declarations, and had 

 never recanted them. And more than this, they 

 placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law 

 to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic reso- 

 lution which I now read : 



" Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the 

 rights of the States, and especially the right of each 

 State, to order and control its own domestic institu- 

 tions according to its own judgment exclusively, is 

 essential to the balance of po\yer on which the perfec- 

 tion and endurance of our political fabric depend, and 

 we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of 

 the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under 

 what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes." 



I now reiterate these sentiments ; and, in doing so, 

 I only press upon the public attention the most con- 

 clusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that 

 the property, peace, and security of no section are to 

 be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Ad- 

 ministration. I add, too, that all the protection which, 

 consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can 

 be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States, 

 when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause as 

 cheerfully to one section as to another. 



There is much controversy about the delivering up 

 of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now 

 read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any 

 other of its provisions : 



" No person held to service or labor in one State, 

 under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in 

 consequence of any law or regulation therein, be dis- 

 charged from such service or labor, but shall be deliv- 

 ered up on claim of the party to whom such service or 

 labor may be due." 



It is scarcely questioned that this provision was in- 

 tended by those who made it for the reclaiming of 

 what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the 

 law-giver is the law. All members of Congress swear 

 their support to the whole Constitution to this pro- 

 vision as much as any other. To the proposition, then, 

 that slaves, whose cases come within the terms of this 

 clause, " shall be delivered up," their oaths are unani- 

 mous. Now, if they would make the effort in good 

 temper, could they not, with nearly equal unanimity, 

 frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good 

 that unanimous oath? 



There is some difference of opinion whether this 

 clause should be enforced by National or by State 

 authority; but surely that difference is not a very 

 material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can 

 be of but little .consequence to him, or to others, by 

 which authority it is done. And should any one, in 



