April 27: President Lincoln tells Hon. Warner L. UNDERWOOD, of Ky., that "he hoped Ky. would stand by the Government, in the present difficulties; but, if she would not do that, let her stand still and take no hostile part against it; and that no hostile step should tread her soil." President Lincoln had previously, in his inaugural address, March 4, 1861, said: "I declare that I have no purpose, or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so; and I have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me did so with the full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations, and had never recanted them. And, more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance -- as a law to themselves and to me -- the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read: "Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States -- and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively -- is essential to the balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion, by an armed force, of the Government of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the greatest of crimes.'"