In his first inaugural address, abraham lincoln stated the following: all profess to be content in the union if all constitutional rights can be maintained. is it true, then, that any right plainly written in the constitution has been denied? i think not. happily, the human mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written provision of the constitution has ever been denied. if by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify revolution; certainly would if such right were a vital one. but such is not our case. what does this quote say about lincoln's feelings about the south's discontent?