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Lincoln’s second inaugural address
Lincoln’s second inaugural address
Lincoln’s second inaugural address
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Lincoln’s second inaugural address
Lincoln’s second inaugural address
Lincoln’s second inaugural address
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Lincoln’s second inaugural address
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.
In hindsight, this seems the only way America’s worst moment could end. After some 600,000 American men had died of wounds, or grossly unsanitary medical practice, Lincoln gave his second inaugural address, the famous “charity for all” speech, on March 4, 1865, one month before his death. There is a photograph of him giving this speech, which also shows John Wilkes Booth standing above and behind him, on a balcony. Lincoln ended his speech with these words: “With malice toward none; with charity for all;…let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.”
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.
During a time in history when the United States was as divided as it had ever been, Abraham Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural Address. The Civil War had been raging for four years, and victory was in sight for the Union. Many northern politicians wanted Lincoln to harshly punish and humiliate the South for all of the violence that its succession had caused. However, part of the wisdom that turned Lincoln into an iconic president was his intent to end the war “with malice towards none, with charity for all” and “ to bind up the nation's wounds, [and] to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan” (Second Inaugural Address).
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
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.”
If you look throughout history you'll see that a great leader always has this way of connecting with people through their words. A man like that was President Abraham Lincoln, who wrote the Second Inaugural speech On March 4, 1865. In this speech Lincoln emphasizes his desire for everyone to become one, no matter what race or place you grew up in. Lincoln helps get this point across by using imagery, antithesis, ethos, repetition, and words that evoke togetherness to create one of the most well known speeches in the world. One thing that helped make Lincoln's speech great is that he acknowledge both sides.
The speech was of great significance in the spiritual life of the United States. The speech was brief but exalted the highest responsibility of the survivors for the cause of the nation that many soldiers have fallen. It reaffirms the ideal of freedom and equality in the United States. The speech has power to reconstruct the country after the devastating civil war in the history of the US. It exemplifies the highest responsibility of all survivors for the cause of freedom of the nation because of how many soldiers have fallen.
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