how did lincoin try to reassure the south in 1860?

Question

social studies

Answer 1

It is true that Lincoln made an appeal to the South in his inaugural address on March 4, 1861, but that was clearly NOT during the 1860 Presidential campaign.

In fact, Lincoln himself offered NO assurances during the Presidential campaign. That was mainly because he followed the standard etiquette of the time, that the Presidential candidate himself did NOT campaign (though, ironically, Stephen Douglas broke with that tradition that year).

Now there WAS one very important Lincoln speech in 1860, well BEFORE the convention (and helping much in gaining him the nomination) -- the Cooper Union Speech in February. That speech had some material addressed to Southerners (in the first and esp second section), but mostly to argue for his position NOT to 'reassure' them.

See a summary of the speech's arguments here:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/liho/cooper/cooper.htm#_Ref516392123

And here is the speech itself
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/cooper.htm
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So, if Lincoln were to offer clear REASSURANCES you might expect them only AFTER the election was over -- during the "secession winter" of 1860-61.

As a matter of fact, he himself did not do much along those lines at that time... certainly not directly. He DID authorize his representatives attempting to resolve the issues in Washington BEFORE he arrived to accept and to suggest various compromise offers that might reassure the South -- esp measures (even a Constitutional amendment) affirming that he had NO intention of interfering with slavery where it already existed. But again, he refused to support any compromise that would not allow him to attempt to limit its SPREAD. (In other words, he remained consistent to the Republican platform, and his own stated position of several years.)
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Now it you ARE looking direct words of assurance from Lincoln himself during all this, you would find them only beginning with his inaugural address. In that speech he appealed to them in a number of ways, beginning b demonstrating his oft-stated position with quotes from earlier speeches and the party platform he had run on (e.g., not to interfere with slavery in their states), and proceeding through several arguments, including showing that he COULD not do all that much as President in just four years, and that should he overreach the nation would easily be able to turn him out.

You may read more of this at the link below... but of course the most familiar and moving appeal he makes is in his eloquent conclusion:

"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres31.html

Answer 2

By 'appealing to the angels of their better nature' in his inaugural address.

All too easy. How come you didn't know?