Lincoln's thinking on emancipation evolved greatly over the course of the Civil War. When the war first started, Lincoln had no intention of emancipating the slaves. He was not, necessarily, in favor of slavery, but he recognized it as part of the economy of the south.

Due to the Haitian Revolution, in which the slaves of the nation of Haiti rose against their masters and took over the island, whites in the US were constantly fearing a slave uprising. President Lincoln also worried that if slaves were released they would immediately rise against their masters and take up arms against all white people.

In addition, Lincoln did not have the right to emancipate the slaves. The Constitution forbid the government, in more ways than one, from doing anything that would result in the ending of slavery; however, Lincoln expanded the power of the presidency during the Civil War and through his actions he did, in fact, emancipate the slaves.

Throughout the war the north was afraid that other countries would get involved in the conflict, particularly that they would side with the Confederacy. Since slave labor provided many raw goods that were utilized in Britain and France, the Union was afraid of international involvement if they tampered too much with production.

Lincoln felt that slavery was ingrained in the southern way of life. More than anything he wanted to keep the Union whole. He feared that if he emancipated the slaves than the Confederate states would never rejoin the Union and continue to resist until they won or until they were completely decimated by Union forces.

"The Gilded Age" was referred to as such because of the increasing wealth held by monopolies, corporations, and successful individuals. These things were the result of a lack of regulation on business and many corrupt politicians who gained favor by sucking up to the new extremely wealthy. These politicians, and their voters, were effectively controlled by big city "machines," political organizations that held great influence and manipulated most elections to their will.

The Ocala Demands were a set of demands issued in 1890 by a group of agricultural institutions. It demanded, among other issues, that there be an amendment to the Constitution providing for the direction election of Senators, a reduction of tariff rates, the establishment of a graduated income tax, that the banking system be reformed and placed directly in the hands of the Federal government, and that “free silver” be used to support inflation in United States currency. In 1892 the Farmer’s Association formed into the Populist Party and the Ocala Demands were accommodated into the Party’s Omaha Platform.

The belief that states have a right to ignore federal law if they deem it a violation of their own sovereignty is known by the name of nullification.  The author of this quote, John C. Calhoun, was the most prominent advocate of states’ rights and nullification.  Calhoun resigned as Vice President to Andrew Jackson in 1832 due to their disagreement on South Carolina’s attempted nullification of the Tariff of 1832.

The quote is a perfect illustration of abolitionism, the movement to end slavery, espoused by one of its chief proponents, William Lloyd Garrison. 

Following the end of the Civil War, Lincoln favored a quick and easy process of reconciliation with the South. He contended that once 10% of a Southern state's electorate took oaths to establish an abolitionist government, that state could gain re-entry. The Wade-Davis bill argued that Lincoln was too lenient and proposed a much higher percentage of the electorate to take oaths. Lincoln, believing the Wade-Davis bill would only cause greater disharmony, used his pocket veto to block its passage. 

The Anti-Federalists were composed largely of farmers, lower class individuals, and those who favored state power over centralized federal power. Their primary concern with the Constitution was its lack of a Bill of Rights ensuring basic liberties. The Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian parties had not yet come to be at that point in time.

The American Party (more commonly known as the Know-Nothing Party) was a nativist movement most popular during the early 1850s that primarily sought to curb immigration and the growing influence of Catholicism brought in by immigrants. It origininated in the North, but it quickly gained a nationwide presence, even boasting a chapter in California. It died out almost entirely by the time of the Civil War and was absorbed into other parties by the end of it.

The "Radical Republicans," who were opposed during and after the Civil War by the moderate wing of their own party, controlled Congress during Reconstruction and implemented many harsh and sweeping measures on former Confederates. The Radical Republicans sought citizenship and voting rights for all newly freed slaves, the political exclusion of former Confederates, and the prosecution of Confederate leaders for their actions during the Civil War.

The Virginia Resolution was written by James Madison. The Kentucky Resolutions (note the plural) were written by Thomas Jefferson.