“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend it'.”
About This Quote
Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861.
More from Abraham Lincoln
“Don't kneel to me, that is not right. You must kneel to God only, and thank him for the…”
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from…”
“In reference to you, colored people, let me say God has made you free. Although you have…”
“My poor friends, you are free, free as air. You can cast off the name of slave and trample…”