...the reasonings, explanations, watchwords that ended Lincoln's long silence. He finished: "I am loth 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...

...but more moving statement, containing, as so often with his writing, a touch of poetry: "I am loth 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...

...land, are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty. . . . "I am loathe 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...

...treasures of the American people. With them he specifically addressed all those living in the South: 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...

...his editing by turning around Seward's suggested "I close," which was too abrupt for what followed: 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...

...the idea of secession on hold. The passionate president concluded his speech by declaring that he was "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. As president-elect, Abraham Lincoln made...