and not the public, furnishing his necessary means? If no, say so
without the least hesitation, because I am as anxious and as deeply
interested that you shall not be encumbered as you can be yourself.

_The Second Inaugural Address. March 4, 1865_

Fellow-countrymen, At this second appearance to take the oath of the
Presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than
there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a
course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration
of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly
called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still
absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little
that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all
else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and
it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With
high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were
anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it,--all
sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from
this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war,
insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without
war,--seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation.
Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than
let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let
it perish. And the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were coloured slaves, not distributed
generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it.
These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that
this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen,
perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the
insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government
claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement
of it....

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the
right, as God gives us to see the right,--let us strive on to finish the
work we are in: to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who
shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan; to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among