Question

Read the following sentence from the text: By general law, life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life, but a life is never wisely given to save a limb. How is this sentence related to the overall point of the letter?

Answer 1

Well, Lincoln is talking about supporting emancipation and the fact that he considers it his responsibility to do so. His point is that, emancipation is necessary to uphold the constitution and therefore preserve the nation. So emancipation is "amputating the limb" in order to save the nation or "life".