Lincoln (Part 2)

Second Inaugural Address (1865):
"The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh."  If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come but which, having continued through his appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both north and South this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which,  the believers in a living God always ascribe to him?  Fondly we do hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.  Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled up by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as we said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

In this quote, Lincoln is stating that the Civil War is a product of the oppression that the slaves endured during the 250 years of slavery.  He quotes the Bible because it seems fitting that those who promoted slavery should be punished for punishing others.  He is stating that although we can hope and pray that this "judgement" brought down by the word of God is a brief war, it wouldn't be unlikely that, if God willed it to be, this war could last as long as slavery lasted.  In other words, this was an "eye for an eye" war geared towards the end of slavery.  Lincoln also states that no matter what, this war was the work of the divine God and that nothing could have changed the fact that this war was certain and inevitable.