During the Civil War, different groups thought different things about why the war was being fought. The North mostly fought for reunification while the South fought to save slavery. Lincoln, who was President at the time, began the war with one set of beliefs and eventually won the war with another. Lincoln’s focus for the war changed from reunification to the abolition of slavery. During the first year of the Civil War, the reunification of the United States was the only goal of the war. In the year 1862, the second year of the Civil War, President Lincoln gave his annual Congressional Address. The Congressional Address was extremely important because it changed the goal of the war from reunification of the country, to a war fought over the morality of slavery. About a year after the Congressional Address, Lincoln gave another well known speech, the Gettysburg Address. This famous speech was given after the Battle of Gettysburg to honor …show more content…
In his Inaugural Address Lincoln talked about the war. He talked about how ⅛ of the United States’ population was black. The black population lived mostly in the South working as slaves and were vital to the Southern economy. Lincoln told how the South wanted to strengthen slavery, but the North threatened the existence of slavery. The slavery debate split the country in half which caused the war. Lincoln talked about how the government was limited to what it could do in terms of abolition, but it was able to stop the spread of slavery. No one in the Confederacy or the Union expected the war to last as long, or be as big as it was. No one expected slavery to be abolished before the war was over either. Lincoln’s second Inaugural Address gave an overview of the war, it was also one of the final pushes he made for the abolition of slavery to end the
The Civil War was one of the most impactful events in United States history; Abraham Lincoln was the man who helped lead our country through that strenuous time. In his Second Inaugural Address Lincoln uses a variety of strong and effective rhetorical strategies to inspire his fellow Americans to accept the imminent closing of the Civil War with hopeful attitude and begin to heal a broken nation. Many people had made predictions for the end of the Civil War. However, President Lincoln does not definitively give either side the title of victor: “With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.” Using direct and declarative sentences, Lincoln is able to make his audience question their motives for making so many predictions.
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.
In Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address he asserts many points on rhetorical strategies while stating his hopes and admirations for what will come after the Civil War. The purpose of Lincoln’s speech was to unify the nation and bring peace to the states. The tone of this speech emphasizes unity for all. Lincoln begins with parallelism to help get his point across.
At the time of Lincoln's inauguration in 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union. Lincoln’s anti-slavery platform made him extremely unpopular with Southerners. He won the presidential election without the support of a single Southern state. Lincoln felt it was his sacred duty as President to preserve the Union. His first inaugural address was an appeal to the rebellious states to rejoin the nation.
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.
The Civil War rid the United States of peace and solidarity. Abraham Lincoln, in his Second Inaugural Address, expands on the country’s war motives and fight to restore the values that it stands for. With his usage of syntax, diction, and religious allusion, Lincoln seeks to mend the divided nation. President Lincoln’s careful use of inclusive words and phrases strengthen the feeling of unity throughout his address. The word choice highlights his attempts to remain impartial concerning his views on the war.
Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States addresses the nation on the date of March 4th, 1865, in order to address the Civil War. He responds to the war crisis by stating, and publicizing that the slaves needed to be free before the Civil War occurred. The war, as said by Abraham Lincoln, not only caused a split in unity between the states and citizens, but he also believed it to be a punishment delivered by God because of the treatment of the slaves. Lincoln is able to get his argument across successfully through the use of juxtapositions, allusions religion, and the use of pronouns (at the end of the speech), to create a sense of unity within the country. President Abraham Lincoln does not only address the effects and problems with the Civil War, but also what encouraged the conflict.
President Abraham Lincoln asserts his concerns about war and the future of America in his “Second Inaugural Address” speech, delivered in eighteen sixty-five to the American people. In his speech, Lincoln admits the unforeseen duration of the Civil War and optimistically states his desires for it to cease. His tone throughout the speech is concerned and straightforward to show that American citizens should have a concern in the matter and make efforts to end the war. Abraham Lincoln’s use of rhetoric is what made this famous speech effective. Lincoln sets his straightforward tone right in the beginning of his speech.
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
Lincoln's Second Inauguration Address Speech Analysis Just days away from the end of the unexpectedly prolonged war, Abraham Lincoln announced his Second Inauguration Address Speech to the United States public on March 4, 1865. His speech was an explanation of the devastating circumstances that lead to the Civil War and was also intended to encourage the public in taking action in picking up the broken pieces left behind by the war that they alone had caused. In his speech he also mentions that the incorporation of the confederate states back into the U.S. would be underway at the end of the war and that America would need to work collectively for the sake of staying united. In order to meaningfully translate the intentions of his speech
In Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, he stressed that the citizens should carry on this war “with malice toward none” and “with charity for all.” This statement could be considered self-contradictory because the North had immense amounts of hate for the South, as did the South for the North. Despite their hate for each other, Lincoln had much desire for this war to end quickly, as he wanted to reunite the Union as it once was before this horrendous dispute started. Lincoln found it mandatory that the people relieve all hate for each other in order to obtain a peace that only the end of the war could possibly bring.
In his inaugural address, he addressed a major problem in the South. The problem was slavery. President Lincoln addressed the issue with slavery moving into the territories that were not yet states. Lincoln knew that the slave states were worrying that new states would mostly choose to be free, and once there were enough free states, those states would have the votes in Congress to unite and end slavery (JAFFA).
A month before the end of the American civil war, President Abraham Lincoln gave his second inaugural address to the nation. In his speech, Lincoln shifts the blame of starting the war towards the south through juxtaposing the northern and southern parties. But at the same time he also applies anaphora and biblical allusions to create a sense of unity between the two opposing sides in the hope that they can better their future together. Early on in his speech, Lincoln uses juxtaposition to contrast the northern and southern parties. He claims that the South “would make war rather than let the nation survive,” while the North “would accept war rather than let it parish, and the war came.”
On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural Address. In this address, he talked about the question of reconstruction and what that would mean. He also acknowledged the issue of slavery and how it is the main cause of the war. Towards the end of the speech, he hopes foe the end of the conflict, and hopes that Americans want to strive for a lasting peace. Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural speech is important because it was a last effort to stop the war and find peace to reconstruct the broken country.
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