We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies... the mystic chords of memory... will swell the chorus of the Union... touched by the better angels of our nature.

My opinion is that no state can, in any way lawfully, get out of the Union, without the consent of the others; and that it is the duty of the President, and other government functionaries to run the machine as it is.

Continue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution, and the Union will endure forever.

The Proclamation opened the door to self-liberation by the Negro upon which he immediately acted by deserting the plantations in the South and joining the Union armies in the North.

I shall endeavor to take the ground I deem most just to the North, the East, the West, the South, and the whole country.

The people of the South have too much of good sense, and good temper, to attempt the ruin of the government ... At least, so I hope and believe.