Question

"One-eighth of the whole population were colored 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. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease."

What theme is presented in this passage from President Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address? (5 points)
Select one:
a. The South wanted to extend slavery to other regions
b. The majority of slaves resided in the South
c. The Union had reasons to oppose the expansion of slavery
d. The war has outlasted some of the original causes of the war

Answer 1

Answer:  a. The South wanted to extend slavery to other regions.

That theme is presented in Lincoln's assertion, "Slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest.. ...To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war."

Meanwhile, Lincoln emphasized that the United States government had intended to do no more than "to restrict the territorial enlargement" of slavery.   President Lincoln himself was morally opposed to slavery, but he also recognized that slavery was permitted by the existing law of the land, the US Constitution.  So Lincoln's initial position on slavery was to stop the spread of it.  The progress of the Civil War made Lincoln increasingly strong in his stance against slavery.  The war initially was about preserving the Union, but later, with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (1863), was declared also to be about ending slavery.  The quoted section from his Second Inaugural Address (1865) shows how Lincoln came to see slavery as the primary problem that had caused the war.

Answer 2

Correct Answer is D. The war has outlasted some of the original causes of the war.

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