When engaged in political discussions, he did not attempt to reduce the contentions of his rivals to a personification, but rather reacted to the better focuses of his rivals. This is why the transcripts of Lincoln's open discussions with Stephen Douglas are still so generally taught and examined. However, Miller argues that through "the development of a mature and conscious discipline, Lincoln came to be unusually respectful in his personal conduct of the dignity and independence of the human beings with whom he dealt." This respect would not only contribute to his friendships, but it would also contribute to the freedom of black slaves.” (Miller 364) Although Lincoln was confident that his standards were right, he was acutely aware of his own uncertainty and, in his second inaugural address, proposed that the unpleasant expenses of the Civil War should be seen as God's only discipline for wrongdoing of American servitude, in which both North and South had been complicit. Promising to repair the wounds of the war, he proposed to act with “firmness in the right since God allows us to see the right, let us leave it. we strive to finish the job we are in.” (Thrift