Lincoln's First Inaugural Address
In 1861 President Abraham Lincoln addressed the union at the Library of Congress. During this time, the southern states that had become known as the Confederacy had seceded from the United States. This was due to the growing amount of sectionalism between the regions of the United States. Slavery being the major issue of the time, led to the southern states seceding. Lincoln addressed the union, but also addressing the confederate states, in essence saying that he would not take first strike against them, but if they took action against the union, he would not hesitate to view them as a rebellion and crush them.