How Did Lincoln's First Inaugural Address Inevitable

By the time Lincoln gave his first inaugural address, conflict between the North and South was inevitable. Conflict between the North and South was inevitable by the time Lincoln gave his first inaugural address because several Southern states had seceded from the union and because Lincoln would not have maintained the status quo for long. For a good two decades, the United States had been experiencing more and more turmoil over slavery. The Republican North was emphatically against slavery, viewing it as an evil abomination, while the Democratic South viewed it as integral to the Southern tradition. Northerners bannered together in the name of justice, while Southerners rallied to preserve their way of life. Feeling that their entire culture was gravely threatened, Southerners became more and more organized and militant, culminating in South Carolina’s secession from the United States of America on December 20, 1860.
The latest fugitive slave law was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The Act was part of the larger Compromise of 1850, a series of bills meant to resolve issues over slavery in territories acquired during the Mexican-American War. The Fugitive Slave Act was aimed at uncooperative Northerners, but applied to all citizens. It required federal officials to assist in recapturing escaped slaves and required regular citizens to form slave-hunting possesses upon request. The Act also prohibited recaptured slaves from defending themselves in their hearings, leading to many mistaken arrests. Northerners were strongly opposed to the Fugitive Slave Act, and many openly defied it. Newly elected President Abraham Lincoln saw the Fugitive Slave Act as one of the main issues dividing the country, and discussed it in his first inaugural address on March 4,