Summary Of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

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

“Although it is the second shortest inaugural address in American history, Lincoln’s speech is probably the most memorable in language and content”(White 282). Many scholars consider Lincoln's Second Inauguration Address Speech to be one of the best inauguration speeches made by a president, the lack of length is made up for by the enrichment of his context. Holding the position of president in a time of crisis, Lincoln knew that his people had to see that they were being lead by a leader with a good head on his shoulders (which Lincoln proved to have by presenting his speech elegantly) who could rise them up from the aftermath of four years of war. Besides his word choices, Lincoln also adds ethos to his speech by mentioning facts about events that at the time were in motion. “All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war…”(Abraham Lincoln). The speech brings up the cause of the Civil War. The southern states, or as Lincoln calls them in his speech in order to not point any fingers, “Insurgents” did not want the abolishment of slavery but rather wanted to preserve

Lincoln decides to add a religious aspect into his speech and talks about god. “Yet, if God wills that it continue... until every drop of blood drawn with the lash...as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether”(Abraham Lincoln). Lincoln mentioned in his speech that he believed that the war was god's punishment on man for imprisoning man under their control. God brought the war for a reason, and only until he decides when it will end, will it end. At the time, with the war causing national depression and distress, many people seeked their answers in a form of a spiritual deity, in hopes that there is indeed something else beyond man that can solve their problems and save them. The use of this fallacy made Lincoln's speech even stronger as it now related with and appealed to an even larger