South says that we need to enforce the constitution, but what irony does Lincoln find?

The Constitution sought to capture American values and beliefs as communicated in the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration declared all men as created equal with divine unalienable rights.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

According to Abraham Lincoln, support by the Southern states to adopt the...

The Constitution sought to capture American values and beliefs as communicated in the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration declared all men as created equal with divine unalienable rights.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

According to Abraham Lincoln, support by the Southern states to adopt the Constitution while at the same time supporting slavery was ironic. This was because, the Declaration of Independence communicated American values and beliefs. Further, the American Revolution was a push for sovereignty and freedom. Ironically, the same freedom was being denied for the slaves and other minority groups. This level of duplicity made no sense to Lincoln. Eventually, the Constitution would have to communicate the same values as captured in the Declaration. In this regard, the issue of slavery became a bone of contention between Lincoln/ Union and the Southern states.

Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring all slaves in rebelling states to be free.

"all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free"

This was followed by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution that legally abolished slavery. These changes secured American values and beliefs in the Constitution as envisioned in the Declaration.