On this day in 1860, Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States. Thus, he became the first Republican to win the presidency.

“The best way”

The following is a timely and timeless quote from his first inaugural address, the following March:

“Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to “preserve, protect, and defend it.”