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I ran across an interesting editorial about Lincoln's first inaugural when looking through my copies of old newspaper pages tonight.

The following editorial quote is from the New York Day Book (NYC) as reported in the Baltimore Sun of March 7, 1861. Here is the Sun's whole section about the Day Book editorial.

The New York Day Book has put in juxtaposition, as does the Express, the seemingly contradictory passages of the inaugural, and thus translates:

"In other words, though you do not recognize me as President, I shall not molest you if you will pay taxes for the support of my government. We must have your money, that we cannot bring ourselves to decline, and if you do not let us have it peacefully, why, we shall be compelled to take it from you by force; in which case you, not we, will be the aggressors. This means coercion and civil war and nothing else."

It’s interesting to see that quote in some type of context. I have only heard the last part “in which case you, not we, will be the aggressors” most of the time to show that Lincoln desired peace.

"In other words, though you do not recognize me as President, I shall not molest you if you will pay taxes for the support of my government. We must have your money, that we cannot bring ourselves to decline, and if you do not let us have it peacefully, why, we shall be compelled to take it from you by force; in which case you, not we, will be the aggressors. This means coercion and civil war and nothing else."

Exactly, thanks. If we as observers through time static, honestly look at events from all sides as we can see now, that the observers from then time dynamic, saw events differently. Each from only his own prospective. I believe that Southerners honestly thought that they were operating within their legal rights and were forced into war by the aggressions of the northerners. Just as I feel that the northerners honestly felt that they were the victims of southern rebels who's aggression started a war on them. In retrospect it's as if the country and all it's citizens was caught in some massive Rube Goldberg or Domino Fall and no one had the sense to get out of the way or simply remove one of the pieces.