Of course, we are correct today to treat slavery as an intolerable violation of human rights, one on which no compromise is possible. The North was morally justified to fight a war to free the slaves if that was necessary. But had there not been a divine justification for slavery to begin with, the institution might have failed without a war. Religion on both sides solidified arguments, many untenable, as articles of faith. That was Webster’s point. And that was the point of Lincoln’s religious language in his second inaugural.
