Question

In the space below, write a 200-word summary of where Lincoln and Davis stood on states' rights and secession. Compare and contrast their views and offer a possible solution.

Answer 1

As respective presidents of the United States and the Confederate States of America, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were diametrically opposed on the issues of states' rights in respect to secession. What this fundamentally meant was that Lincoln was unalterably opposed to, while Davis was fully in favor of, this right.Secession is the formal withdrawal of a member state from an association or union. Several different states had threatened secession in the first decades of the history of the United States, but it was only with South Carolina's secession from the Union on December 20, 1860 that the possibility became a reality. Lincoln was completely against secession because, as mentioned in his House Divided Speech, "A house divided against itself cannot stand, I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free." Lincolns goal in this speech was to differentiate himself from Stephen Douglas by saying that the united states cannot exist divided, it must either be all slave or all free. Obviously Lincoln was pushing for all free, however he wanted a gradual emancipation of the slaves.