Lincoln gave his first inaugural address under the looming crisis of souther states seceding from the Union. At the time of the address in 1861 7 states had already declared secession and many feared the war was looming. In his address Lincoln made a major attempt to extend a hand of peace and compromise to the southern states in the hopes that the war could be avoided and that democratic principles could be used to resolve the issue. Therefore, the reference to the rights of states to resolve their own issues was very much a part of this effort to show that Lincoln wanted the southern states to remain part of the Union and that the federal government was not there to unilaterally impose its will on states in an undemocratic or unconstitutional fashion.
The role that geography played in the development of Athens as a dominant power the cities states of ancient Greece was that its location along the Aegean Sea helped Athens establish a powerful Navy and booming trade.
The priesthood is one of the three holy orders of the Catholic Church, comprising the ordained priests or presbyters. The other two orders are the bishops and the deacons. Church doctrine also sometimes refers to all baptised Catholics as the "common priesthood".[1][2]
