. . " terms of legalisms (the Constitution was a contract, and for one party to get out of a contract all the other parties had to agree), and then in terms of the national duty to guarantee a republican form of government in every state.[229] Burton (2008) argues that Lincoln's republicanism was taken up by the Freedmen as they were emancipated.[230]In March 1861, in his First Inaugural Address, Linco" . .