Lincoln completed his first inaugural address with these words:

‘I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely, they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

At his second inauguration, Lincoln left us with these final words:

‘With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, let us strive on… To finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan - - To do all which may achieve and cherish...

A just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves... And with all nations.’