I guess I knew it, but it was decidedly reinforced in the presentation about Abraham Lincoln which I attended at our Education Conference today. What was it? It was that not only was our Constitution hanging in the balance in Lincoln’s administration, but the Declaration of Independence was as well. It was totally repudiated and disavowed by the Southern States in the Civil War.

The written documents of the South firmly rejected the premise of the Declaration of Indpendence that “all men are created equal.” And they likewise discarded that idea along with the whole Declaration! I hadn’t realized that.

Lincoln had to hold the union together in a manner consistent with the Constitution. He knew he couldn’t violate the terms of that document which he had taken an oath to uphold. Lincoln, an attorney, finally realized that the Constitution gave him certain powers in wartime. There was now a war—between the States.

One of the powers was for the confiscation of property if determined necessary. The blacks were slaves and were considered property. So there it was. He could confiscate the slaves. So out came the Emancipation Proclamation!

How wondrous was it that the right man, with the right knowledge and spirit, was elected President at the absolute right time. He knew what he had to do, and he knew it had to be lawful under the Constitution, and he had to have the courage to do it! And he did!