In Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address he said, "let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to build up the nation's wounds… and just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." The main idea of his speech was to end the perilous fight that was the Civil War. Lincoln spoke about how the war needs to pass for the sake of the soldiers and the rest of the nation and that the war would end strong. Lincoln said that if God wishes for the war to continue, then it would because His word is final. When he said "malice toward none, with charity for all" he meant that people should stop fighting and show kindness to all (although at the time women and people of color would still be discriminated against). The message of this speech
Abraham Lincoln wrote the second Inaugural Address on March 4th, 1865. The Civil War was a couple months from ending at this point. This speech was very strong and consists of numerous rhetorical devices. The Inaugural Address appeals mainly to pathos, uses allusion, parallel sentences, and figurative language. President Lincoln’s purpose was to persuade the audience to come together despite the war.
It would be more than difficult not to read Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address without some sense of pride or honor for one’s own country. He brings about a call to civility among all citizens striving for unity and harmony with one another. Lincoln understood the dilemma that slavery became for not only the Northerners attempting to abolish the practice entirely, but also for the Southerners perpetuating it in the first place. The fact that there was a faction rising in favor of slavery on a scale that would divide the country indefinitely and that Lincoln foresaw this danger demonstrates the level of prudence he was able to acquire up until his presidency. In this address, Lincoln stressed the importance of the nation staying unified and true to the principles set by
During President Lincoln’s second inaugural address, the audience expected the speech to be on politics, slavery, and states’ rights. Instead, the speech was on the effects of civil war and gave his vision for the future of the nation. While doing so, he uses rhetorical strategies to achieve his purpose, which is to convince his audience to unite so they can move forward and fix their broken nation. With Lincoln’s main goal of linking the North and the South into one, he tends to use words such as each, both, neither, we, and us. Even though at the time they were looked at as two separate territories, this is his attempt of verbally joining the two as one, painting a picture of unity so that eventually they can work together to “bind up the nation’s wounds.”
One thing that really interested me about Lincoln “Second Inaugural Address” is that it was not a typical speech celebrating the end of the war. Instead of talking about themes such as victory or triumph, specifically over the institution of slavery, Lincoln tone is remarkable sad and melancholy. This is perhaps due to his desire to unite the country. He furthers this point by arguing that both sides “read the same bible, and prayed to the same God.” One consists theme of this speech is that both sides should essentially drop their malice and try to be compassionate towards one another.
During Abraham Lincoln’s presidency at the start of the 1860, an issue that had divided the nation was slavery. Lincoln’s election to presidency as a republic was not received well by the Southern slave states, as they thought that as a republican he was out to abolish slavery. In an effort to calm southern states and keep them from seceding from the United States, he attempts to ease them with his First Inaugural Address. In his First Inaugural Address his key points are to clam southern leaders of slave states, keep the states from seceding, and make them at ease as he enters presidency.
He states “All dreaded it, all sought to avert it”. Lincoln in no way needed to do this. He very well could have delivered a forty minute victory speech, but instead uses phrases like these to place the South on equal footing with the North, in an attempt to get the Northerners to understand the Southerners. He also used parallel structure when he stated “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”. He is using this parallel structure to bring the North down to the South, in that both parties must share the burden of the war.
In his Second Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln had one purpose; to cast a vision of the nation’s future. To achieve this purpose, Lincoln appeals to the audience’s emotion and includes biblical allusions. By appealing to the audience’s emotion, Lincoln creates a stronger connection which leads to the audience becoming more open, and thus more feasible to Lincoln’s vision. To do this, Lincoln introduces the 2 opposing sides as one audience by using the word “all.” By stating that “all dreaded it, all sought to avert it” (18-19), Lincoln creates a link between the audience and himself which sets up the opportunity to influence the audience’s emotions.
President, Abraham Lincoln expresses, in his speech, the “Second Inaugural Address” (1865), that he is taking an oath for the second appearing of the Presidential Office. He supports his claim by first telling about how four years ago people based their votes upon the Civil War that was occurring, then he talked about slaves that contributed to the war, then he talks about that the Lord can only judge and that he chooses if the slaves will remain enslaved, and finally he talks about how we as people need to work to keep our nation good. Abraham’s purpose is to remind people about the first Inaugural Address and to encourage them to work on the nation in order to keep a good nation. He establishes a hopeful tone for his fellow countrymen.
In the text, it says, “with malice towards none; with charity towards all”, which means to simply be kind to each other and to love one another. This one quote outlined what he believed would be the answer to ending the animosity between his country’s people. He argued that the nation should come together, rather than fight we each other. President Lincoln expressed a deep sadness in the effects that war had on the people.
There were two beliefs on the inclusion of African Americans into the American society following the Civil War. President Lincoln wanted a slow and well planned introduction of free African Americans into the United States society, Pennsylvania Representative Thaddeus stevens argued that African Americans should be offered many freedoms and rights immediately. “Whatever you are, be a good one.” President Abraham Lincoln was just that, an inspiring President. In the Nineteenth Century, Lincoln along with Congress worked to pass the Thirteenth Amendment.
After the Union’s victory and his re-election. President Lincoln gives his Second Inaugural Address (1865), in his speech he addresses the war and the effects of it, “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other…. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes….If
He doesn’t want to dwell on the future, but work on the present. He wants to conduct change and orchestrate harmony among the states. Also, especially, from paragraph 2, Abraham Lincoln starts using the pronoun “all” and, different forms of it, more often to highlight the inclusiveness of the aggregation, North & South, and to make everyone, including himself, on equal ground. This is to bring a sense of unity and appeal to reason. By bringing a sense of unity, he tries to achieve peace and ease in the tension.
It is seen clearly in his word choice that Lincoln calls for a lasting and fair peace, but not only between the North and South. He also calls the American people to apply this concept of peace with other countries and in foreign policy. Throughout his Second Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln employs a variety of rhetorical strategies to promote unity between Americans. As Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
President Abraham Lincoln, in his inaugural address, addresses the topic of the civil war and its effects on the nation and argues that America could be unified once more. He supports his claim by using massive amounts of parallel structure and strong word choice. Lincoln ‘s purpose is to contemplate the effects of the civil war in order to unite the broken America once again. He adopts a very hopeful tone for his audience, the readers of the inaugural address and others interested in the topic of American history and the civil war.
Lincoln urges the people to “strive on to finish the work we are in,” “to bind up the nation's wounds,” he is trying to get the United Sate Citizens to become one again to unite and be one strong country, showing that even after a huge war that the country can remain strong and unified and that this war will allow for a strong brotherhood in the US. Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address is significant because Lincoln offered and objective point of view. Lincoln did not speak of the unloyalty of the South nor did he praise the North. Rather, Lincoln used multiple points to show that the Unification should be the main focus of his speech not that the states should be divided because of