LINCOLN, ABRAHAM | A same-day printing of Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address in Daily Dispatch—Extra, a newspaper extra from the future capital of the Confederacy. [Richmond, Virginia: J. A. Cowardin & Hammersley], Monday, March 4th, 1861

Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM 

A same-day printing of Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address in Daily Dispatch—Extra, a newspaper extra from the future capital of the Confederacy. [Richmond, Virginia: J. A. Cowardin & Hammersley], Monday, March 4th, 1861

Broadside newspaper Extra (11 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.; 292 x 216 mm); lightly browned, one inkblot, a couple short fold separations closed on verso, one tiny hole at an intersecting fold, light stains from earlier mounting at the corners. The consignor has independently obtained a letter of authenticity from PSA that will accompany the lot.

A same-day, (near-) Confederate imprint of Lincoln's First Inaugural Address. Hurried into type, probably from a telegraph relay in Washington, the Daily Dispatch—Extra contains the first half of Lincoln's speech, the tenets of which are laid out in the paper's headlines: "Inaugural of Mr. Lincoln. He Intends to Hold the U. S. Property. The Revenues are to be Collected. The Union Not Yet Broken. The Government Forces at his Command to be used to Recover the Federal Property."

Although seven Southern states had seceded and formed the Confederate States of America by the time of Lincoln's inauguration as sixteenth president, he still hoped to achieve a reconciliation with South and avoid Civil War. Well received in the North, Lincoln's speech was essentially ignored by the Confederacy and other Southern States. When Lincoln declared a formal State of Insurrection after Fort Sumter was attacked, four more states—including Virginia on May 23, 1861—joined the Confederacy. Despite Lincoln's aspirations and intentions, Civil War was likely unavoidable by the time the Daily Dispatch printed this broadside, despite the many accommodations and conciliations he proffered.

"Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. … I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere 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. … the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection 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 what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes. …

"It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our National Constitution. During that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens have in succession administered the executive branch of the Government. They have conducted it through many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years under great and peculiar difficulty. 

"A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted. I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself. … The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was to form a more perfect Union. But if destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before the Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity. … 

"I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. … In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the National authority. …"

Appended to is correspondence from the Charleston Dispatch criticizing Lincoln for secretly passing through Baltimore ("Abraham's pass over"). Another report from Charleston describes the delivery of two Dahlgren guns from Richmond, with more munitions on the way.