In the closing months of the Civil War, and in his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln speaks upon important matters at the time. These matters being about slavery and politics. He wanted to express his thoughts on the ongoing Civil War and his hopes for creating a better future. In order to achieve his purpose, Abraham Lincoln utilizes sophisticated diction, irony, and pathos. Abraham Lincoln uses sophisticated diction in order to express his thoughts on the Civil War and his hopes for creating a better future.
In his Second Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln addressed the topic of the Civil War and argued that the nation needed to change. He supported his claim with parallel structure to highlight the differences between the North and South, then mentioning biblical references to express the importance of religion, and finally the diction he used helped join the citizens together. President Lincoln’s purpose was to express the similarities between the North and South in order to unify the country once again. He uses a critical, yet hopeful tone towards the Americans of both the North and South. Just one month before the end of the Civil War, President Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural Address in the hopes of reuniting the country once
Gunnar Olson 7/12/17 Lincoln’s second inaugural address Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address was anchored in the president’s awareness of the Union citizens’ growing anxiety about the grave causes and effects of the then Civil war conflict. In order to compel Union citizens to stay motivated towards this restoration of the Union by excusing Confederate insurgents and seeing through the necessary war, Lincoln transitions between inclusive pronouns to binary diction to capture conflicting and shared beliefs among Americans, as well as allusions to God’s religion to portray the war as repayment for the act of slavery. In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln surprised his audience by not giving a speech regarding politics, but instead using harsh and then encouraging diction and biblical allusions to inspire Americans and show them that they need to continue to work for peace.
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.”
Lincoln’s purpose of delivering the Second Inaugural Address was to use as a reminder that the issue of slavery played a huge part in the Civil War. He used his address to advise everyone that God was offended and it brought punishment to the nation as a whole. Now that peace is present, he told his listeners that they should use this as a time for a national reconciliation. Lincoln offered hope that they could rise above the sin and suffering to become a strong nation again.
Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address” was “itself a kind of leaf out of the book of the prophets”. He employed not only reason, but also revelation and God’s word to help articulate a vision of the Union’s plans, for the past injustices, the present war, and the future. Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural in a time where the past was yet to be finished and the future foreboding. His focus of the speech was to “point away from war and towards reunion”. Lincoln wanted to focus on the nation’s next phase: justice and healing.
During the history of the United States there have been very respectable speakers Martin Luther King Jr. John F. Kennedy but perhaps no greater leader in American history came to addressing the country like Abraham Lincoln. In his Second Inaugural Address, Lincoln gave a short speech concerning the effect of the Civil War and his own personal vision for the future of the nation. In this speech Lincoln uses many different rhetorical strategies to convey his views of the Civil War to his audience.
Top 100 Rhetorical Speeches: John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address In 1945, World War Two ended with the unconditional surrender of the Japanese Empire. In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed by ten European nations, the United States of America, and Canada in order to organize a united front against the Soviet threat. In 1955, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union signed the Warsaw Pact as a communist counter to the capitalist NATO. In 1961, in the midst of a heated cold war, John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) stood in front of the nation and delivered his inaugural address as the 35th president of the United States of America (USA).
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 Lincoln’s purpose for delivering the Second Inaugural Address was to reunite a country divided by war. President Lincoln points out that both parties were to blame for the battle and were being judged by God. In the speech, he says that though each party read the same Bible, they both used the word of God against the other. In response to this, President Lincoln used other verses from the Bible in his second inaugural address to help start up the reunification process of the country. He used God’s word to assist the country in moving past its’ disagreements.
When Lincoln gave his second inaugural address in 1865, he was speaking to the people of the North in the context of the Civil War. This was the rhetorical situation of Lincoln's speech. Lincoln's purpose was to encourage his audience to win the war and reestablish peace between the North and the South. Many people in both the North and the South had expected the war to be fairly short, but four years later, the country was still at war. For this reason, Lincoln might have worried about his audience losing motivation.
When Jefferson was elected president in 1801, he gave his Inaugural Address. Though he admitted "the task was above his talents," he listed many point on how to move our nation into the 19th century. Of those points, he stated, that giving the minority “equal rights” and finding a common ground was necessary for moving the country into the 19th century. Jefferson makes a point that to transfer into the 19th century as a nation, all people must have "equal rights." He stated, "That though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights." He then goes on to state that the law make sure they get those rights.
The Second Inaugural Address was a speech by Abraham Lincoln about what he will do for the country for his second term on March 4, 1865. At the beginning of the speech he briefly talks about how he will run and that he has high hopes for the future. He spoke to the whole country about what he will do next, but what he said was brief. He has already been president for a 1st term, so he does not say much because he has already said what he wants to do for the county during his first term. Now it is his second term and gives a speech telling the country that he wants to work as a union, to respect and help the army veterans because they go through a lot.
What does the term “American” mean? The sources that I will be using to prove my point includes the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, JFK’s Inaugural Address by John F. Kennedy, Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln and “I, Racist” by John Metta. The term “American” means having freedom, rights, privileges, and different views or opinion about racism. America is based on immigrants. The people who are included are the people who are naturally born in the country and an American citizen.
The Great Speech Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863 delivered one of the most iconic speeches in American History. His delivery infuses us with such raw power and emotions that poured out from the bottom of his heart will change the hearts and minds of Americans for ages to come. Abraham Lincoln did not just write one speech he made five different copies with different sentence structure and paragraph structure, to show how important the layout of the message and how it needed to be simple and to the point. Dissecting “The Gettysburg Address” we begin to understand Abraham Lincoln’s heart lies, he reminds everyone about our past and that we should honor those who fought for our freedom; he tells us “All men are created equal” only to show us what we need to work on as people in the present, he spreads hope for the future and encourages us to grow together
